Most Americans believe that data centers will raise utility bills. It’s a myth. Here are the findings of a new report from the Institute for Energy Research:

Instead, the data reveals a starkly opposite trend:  rising electricity demand is associated with smaller price increases. Because electrical grids rely on high fixed costs, such as transmission infrastructure and generation capacity, increasing sales spreads these costs across more kilowatt-hours, holding per-unit rates down.

Therefore, states experiencing rapid sales growth often see minimal rate increases, while states with shrinking demand are forced to recover fixed costs from a smaller base, leading to dramatic price hikes. Ultimately, the discrepancy in electricity rates across the country is driven more by state-level policies than by the proliferation of data centers.