The “cloud” is not a cloud. It is warehouse-scale buildings — some the size of a dozen Costcos — packed with servers and cooling systems that run on constant electricity and water. California is home to roughly 288 data centers, including multiple smaller facilities in Santa Barbara. As the state races to accommodate artificial intelligence, a state oversight commission is warning that the cost of expanding that infrastructure should not fall on residential ratepayers.
On Wednesday, the bipartisan Little Hoover Commission adopted a sweeping report warning that the rapid expansion of data centers across the state must not drive up already sky-high utility bills for residential customers.
“The commissioners were all very consistent in recognizing that the greatest issue is protection of ratepayers,” said Pedro Nava, chair of the commission and former member of the California State Assembly representing Santa Barbara. “So that the costs associated with building out the infrastructure and providing energy to the data centers are not going to be borne by individual ratepayers, but should be borne by the developers and by the facility itself.”…