The AI boom's hidden electricity bill — and why you're paying it

Whaddya know, “they” love socialism after all. Socialism for them, Capitalism for thee

“Hidden” my ass. Dominion Energy just sent me an email saying my average bill was going to INCREASE by $8 per month due to The Economy™, but clearly that’s bullshit.

hidden electricity bill

Hidden? Whoa.

Soon someone discovers the amount of processing power and RAM needed to make or run these models. That’s going to be a surprise.

E: I’m ranting because of the headline. The fact itself can’t be stated too often. Hopefully some of those investors start to question if AI company shares are a good investment.

AI companies keep promising productivity gains, but one of the first guaranteed outcomes is that everyone else helps pay the electricity bill. If the grid is upgraded for a few hyperscalers while the costs are spread across millions of customers, that’s not a free market. It’s a subsidy with extra steps.

“For this story, Fortune’s journalists used generative AI as a research tool.

Thankfully I’m not paying it. Even before the AI boom I saw the overall upward trend in power costs. I went solar with battery backup when I had my house built and I bought enough to be at or above 100% offset with net metering. The only thing I pay is the grid-tie connection fee each month, and I get a small check from the power company each year for any overage I generate.