When you open a chatbot, stream a show or back up photos to the cloud, you are tapping into a vast network of data centers. These facilities power artificial intelligence, search engines and online services we use every day. Now there is a growing debate over who should pay for the electricity those data centers consume.

During President Trump’s State of the Union address this week, he introduced a new initiative called the ‘ratepayer protection pledge’ to shift AI-driven electricity costs away from consumers. The core idea is simple. 

Tech companies that run energy-intensive AI data centers should cover the cost of the extra electricity they require rather than passing those costs on to everyday customers through higher utility rates.

It sounds simple. The hard part is what happens next.

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Why AI is driving a surge in electricity demand

AI systems require enormous computing power. That computing power requires enormous electricity. Today’s data centers can consume as much power as a small city. As AI tools expand across business, healthcare, finance and consumer apps, energy demand has risen sharply in certain regions.

Utilities have warned that the current grid in many parts of the country was not built for this level of concentrated demand. Upgrading substations, transmission lines and generation capacity costs money. Traditionally, those costs can influence rates paid by homes and small businesses. That is where the pledge comes in.

What the ratepayer protection pledge is designed to do

Under the ratepayer protection pledge, large technology companies would:

• Cover the full cost of additional electricity tied to their data centers
• Build their own on-site power generation to reduce strain on the public grid

Supporters say this approach separates residential energy costs from large-scale AI expansion. In other words, your household bill should not rise simply because a new AI data center opens nearby. So far, Anthropic is the clearest public backer. CyberGuy reached out to Anthropic for a comment on its role in the pledge. A company spokesperson referred us to a tweet from Anthropic Head of External Affairs Sarah Heck.

‘American families shouldn’t pick up the tab for AI,’ Heck wrote in a post on X. ‘In support of the White House ratepayer protection pledge, Anthropic has committed to covering 100% of electricity price increases that consumers face from our data centers.’

That makes Anthropic one of the first major AI companies to publicly state it will absorb consumer electricity price increases tied to its data center operations. Other major firms may be close behind. The White House reportedly plans to host Microsoft, Meta and Anthropic in early March to discuss formalizing a broader deal, though attendance and final terms have not been confirmed publicly.

Microsoft also expressed support for the initiative. 

‘The ratepayer protection pledge is an important step,’ Brad Smith, Microsoft vice chair and president, said in a statement to CyberGuy. ‘We appreciate the administration’s work to ensure that data centers don’t contribute to higher electricity prices for consumers.’  

Industry groups also point to companies such as Google and utilities including Duke Energy and Georgia Power as making consumer-focused commitments tied to data center growth. However, enforcement mechanisms and long-term regulatory details remain unclear.

How this could change the economics of AI

AI infrastructure is already one of the most expensive technology buildouts in history. Companies are investing billions in chips, servers and real estate. If firms must also finance dedicated power plants or pay premium rates for grid upgrades, the cost of running AI systems increases further. That could lead to:

• Slower expansion in some markets
• Greater investment in renewable energy and storage
• More partnerships between tech firms and utilities

Energy strategy may become just as important as computing strategy. For consumers, this shift signals that electricity is now a central part of the AI conversation. AI is no longer only about software. It is also about infrastructure.

The bigger consumer tech picture

AI is becoming embedded in smartphones, search engines, office software and home devices. As adoption grows, so does the hidden infrastructure supporting it. Energy is now part of the conversation around everyday technology. Every AI-generated image, voice command or cloud backup depends on a power-hungry network of servers.

By asking companies to account more directly for their electricity use, policymakers are acknowledging a new reality. The digital world runs on very physical resources. For you, that shift could mean more transparency. It also raises new questions about sustainability, local impact and long-term costs.

What this means for you

If you are a homeowner or renter, the practical question is simple. Will this protect my electric bill? In theory, separating data center energy costs from residential rates could reduce the risk of price spikes tied to AI growth. If companies fund their own generation or grid upgrades, utilities may have less reason to spread those costs among all customers.

That said, utility pricing is complex. It depends on state regulators, long-term planning and local energy markets.

Here is what you can watch for in your area:

• New data center construction announcements
• Utility filings that mention large commercial load growth
• Public service commission decisions on rate adjustments

Even if you rarely use AI tools, your community could feel the effects of a nearby data center. The pledge is intended to keep those large-scale power demands from showing up in your monthly bill.

Think your devices and data are truly protected? Take this quick quiz to see where your digital habits stand. From passwords to Wi-Fi settings, you’ll get a personalized breakdown of what you’re doing right and what needs improvement. Take my Quiz here: Cyberguy.com.

Kurt’s key takeaways

The ratepayer protection pledge highlights an important turning point. AI is no longer only about innovation and speed. It is also about energy and accountability. If tech companies truly absorb the cost of their expanding power needs, households may avoid some of the financial strain tied to rapid AI growth. If not, utility bills could become an unexpected front line in the AI era.

As AI tools become part of daily life, how much extra power are you willing to support to keep them running? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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The Department of Justice on Thursday sued five additional states, requesting that their election data be shared with the Trump administration amid its push for access to voter rolls from states across the country.

Four states President Donald Trump carried in the last three presidential elections — Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky and West Virginia — were slapped with the latest legal action, along with New Jersey.

The DOJ has now sued more than two dozen states in efforts to access election records, with most of the states being controlled by Democrats.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon suggested that state election officials were ‘choosing to fight us in court rather than show their work’ with voter roll access.

‘We will not be deterred, regardless of party affiliation, from carrying out critical election integrity legal duties,’ she said in a statement on Thursday.

‘The Justice Department will continue to fulfill its oversight role dutifully, neutrally, and transparently wherever Americans vote in federal elections,’ Dhillon said.

The Trump administration has intensified its efforts to take over elections in recent months even though the U.S. Constitution gives states, not federal officials, the authority to run elections. Most states have their secretary of state oversee elections.

Access to election information varies by state, but election officials generally release redacted versions of their voter rolls to the public and government agencies, according to Politico. However, the DOJ has demanded that states give the federal government unredacted files, including voters’ private data such as their driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.

‘Accurate, well-maintained voter rolls are a requisite for the election integrity that the American people deserve,’ Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. ‘This latest series of litigation underscores that this Department of Justice is fulfilling its duty to ensure transparency, voter roll maintenance, and secure elections across the country.’

The DOJ has argued the states are in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which affirms that the attorney general can request voter records from election officials, but state officials contend that the department is seeking an escalation of the administration’s wider attempts to become involved in state election proceedings.

‘Neither state nor federal law entitles the Department of Justice to collect private information on law-abiding American citizens. Utahns can be assured that my office will always follow the Constitution and the law, protect voters’ rights, and administer free and fair elections,’ Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said in a statement to Politico.

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams also criticized the lawsuit, saying the state’s elections were ‘a national success story.’

‘Kentucky law protects voters’ personal information, and I will not voluntarily commit a data breach by providing Kentuckians’ personal data to the federal bureaucracy unless a court order tells me to,’ he said in a statement to the outlet.

West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner’s office said it had not yet been served with a lawsuit.

‘Regardless, I think Secretary Warner’s comments to the DOJ were pretty clear. Bring it on! The federal government is not going to get any personal information on West Virginia voters as long as Kris Warner is Secretary of State,’ spokesperson Mike Queen said in a statement to Politico.

Earlier this month, the FBI executed a search warrant at an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, seizing ballots and other voting records from 2020, according to local officials. The Peach State went to former President Joe Biden in 2020, but Trump carried the state in 2024.

In efforts to ensure only American citizens are voting, Trump has also urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require voters in federal elections to prove citizenship by providing a photo ID and other documentation, such as a passport or birth certificate.

President Donald Trump has drawn his line. Now the clock is running.

After publicly giving Iran roughly 10 days to 15 days to reach a nuclear agreement, Trump used his State of the Union address to make clear the deadline is backed by force. 

‘I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror … to have a nuclear weapon,’ he told lawmakers Tuesday night.

The president first outlined the short timeline Feb. 19, saying the world would know within ‘probably 10 days’ whether Tehran was prepared to strike what he called a meaningful deal. 

‘I would think that would be enough time — 10, 15 days, pretty much maximum,’ Trump said, warning that absent an agreement, ‘it’s going to be unfortunate for them.’

On Tuesday, he reinforced the pressure from the House chamber, telling Congress negotiations are underway, but Iran has not met his core condition. 

‘We are in negotiations with them,’ Trump said. ‘They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.”

He also pointed back to the 2025 U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, describing Operation Midnight Hammer as having ‘obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program.’ 

After that operation, he said, Tehran was warned ‘to make no future attempts to rebuild its weapons program,’ adding that Iran is now ‘starting it all over again.’

The combination of a defined diplomatic window and a public reminder of U.S. military action marks a sharper phase in the standoff, as talks in Geneva unfold under mounting pressure.

Trump has not detailed what specific action would follow if Iran refuses his terms. But he told reporters in mid-February that if a meaningful agreement does not materialize, ‘bad things will happen,’ and acknowledged he is considering further steps.

With the State of the Union complete and the president’s timeline already in motion, the coming days are likely to determine whether the administration secures a nuclear concession — or shifts toward a more confrontational path in the Middle East.

The diplomatic ultimatum is underscored by the largest assembly of U.S. naval power in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

The world’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived at Souda Bay, Crete, Monday. The Ford joined the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been conducting 24-hour flight operations in the Arabian Sea since late January.

Between the two strike groups, the U.S. now commands a fleet of 14 major warships, including nine Arleigh Burke-class destroyers armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Meanwhile 12 U.S. F-22 Raptor stealth fighters touched down at Ovda Airbase in southern Israel. 

As national security analyst Joe Funderburke noted in the Small Wars Journal, ‘The F-22 is not a simple show-of-force aircraft. It is designed to suppress enemy air defenses and protect penetrating strike platforms like the B-2 Spirit bomber, the same combination used to devastate Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities at Fordow and Natanz nine months ago.’

The president’s reminder of Operation Midnight Hammer — which utilized B-2 bombers to drop 30,000-pound ‘bunker buster’ munitions — serves as the tactical blueprint for what follows the current deadline. 

While the 2025 operation was a ‘surgical’ surprise strike, the current buildup suggests a far broader mission set, potentially due to Iran’s threat of an aggressive response. 

Iran’s response to Operation Midnight Hammer was measured and the U.S. had warning. This time, Iran has vowed a more forceful response and says any U.S. troops operating in the Middle East could be open targets. 

Amid his sharper diplomatic timeline, Trump also asserted that Iranian authorities had killed some 32,000 protesters in weeks of demonstrations that began in early January — a number far above independent estimates and Tehran’s own death toll. 

‘Just over the last couple of months with the protests, they’ve killed at least, it looks like, 32,000 protesters — 32,000 protesters in their own country,’ the president said. ‘They shot them and hung them.’ 

Administration officials have signaled that any agreement would require Iran to halt all uranium enrichment and provide verifiable guarantees that its program cannot be reconstituted — terms Iran repeatedly has objected to.

Both Washington and Iran appear to believe the other is bluffing. 

Trump has framed the timeline as a final opportunity for diplomacy backed by overwhelming force. Iranian leaders, meanwhile, have publicly dismissed U.S. threats and warned that any strike would trigger retaliation against American forces and regional allies.

Still, U.S. negotiators will meet with Iranian envoys once again in Geneva Thursday.

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas said Tuesday that she would ‘boycott’ President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech.

She blasted him as a ‘wannabe king’ and described the present state of the union as ‘grim.’

‘Tonight, I will boycott Donald Trump’s State of the Union address,’ she said in the statement. ‘The American people deserve better than a low-down, scamming wannabe king who plans to stand at that podium and spew more lies; and I refuse to legitimize the weaponization of the federal government, blatant lies and corruption, and the destruction of our Constitutional principles and democratic norms.’

Crockett, who is currently running in the Texas Democratic U.S. Senate primary, said she was not sent to D.C. ‘to coddle Donald Trump’s ego.’

‘Instead of wasting time listening to Donald Trump lie to the American people, I will be back in Texas talking with families about the true state of our union: cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, rogue ICE agents on our streets, the Epstein cover-up, attacks on the First Amendment, and the unlawful tariffs that have made life too expensive for Texans,’ she said in the statement.

She indicated that the president has an ‘authoritarian agenda.’

‘The current state of our union is grim, but it is not permanent. I will spend tonight continuing the fight to actually strengthen the State of the Union,’ she said in the statement.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Wednesday morning.

The U.S. Secret Service-involved shooting of a man with a shotgun inside the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago over the weekend brought the Department of Homeland Security’s partial shutdown into new focus.

Two USSS agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy confronted and later shot and killed Austin Martin, 21, who authorities said slipped through a vehicular exit gate that had opened for a car before brandishing his weapon.

‘They confronted a white male that was carrying a gas can and a shotgun. He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him – at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position… the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat,’ according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

Those agents are among the many working their dangerous jobs without pay due to the ongoing partial shutdown of DHS, which Republicans say was brought on by Democrats’ demands that ICE, which remains funded through other means, be reformed.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who represents Daytona Beach just up the coast from Mar-a-Lago, said the incident proves the bravery of the Secret Service no matter the circumstances.

‘The attempted assassination of President Trump at Mar-a-Lago is a stark reminder of growing leftist political violence in our country,’ Fine said in a statement.

‘Grateful to the Secret Service who neutralized the terrorist. Even as Democrats refuse to pay them because of their shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, these men and women continue to stand their post.’

Top White House aide Stephen Miller offered an even more pointed response to the dynamic:

‘Democrats voted to defund Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations (who partner with Secret Service) and all the intelligence and law enforcement functions that support Secret Service,’ Miller said.

‘Never before in history has federal law enforcement been purposefully defunded.’

House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams of Texas added that Americans should take note of the agents who responded whether paid or not.

‘As we continue to learn more about the armed man at Mar-a-Lago this morning, we must remember that the brave agents who responded are serving our country without pay due to the Democrat-led shutdown,’ Williams, R-Texas, said.

Prior to the incident, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., warned that the Secret Service and other agencies like FEMA would be put in a bad spot if the partial shutdown went forward.

‘Democrats are prioritizing illegal immigrant criminals ahead of the safety of the American people,’ he said in a February 12 floor speech.

At least one Democrat did react to the agent-involved shooting.

Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida, for whom Trump is technically a constituent at his Mar-a-Lago address, said that ‘political violence is never the answer.’

‘Thank you to the Secret Service and Palm Beach County law enforcement for their swift response today and for their continued work in keeping the president safe,’ Frankel said.

The Northeast blizzard presents separate challenges for resource-suspended agencies like FEMA, while certain Homeland Security-run services, such as TSA escorts for members of Congress, are also suspended.

Fox News’ Elise Oggioni contributed to this report.