President Trump spoke on Thursday regarding the Ratepayer Protect Pledge, a voluntary program designed to shield consumers from price increases due to the construction of AI data centers. The pledge establishes agreements with tech companies to cover energy costs in areas where data centers are built. President Trump promoted the pledge and its potential to provide safeguards for American communities.
“We’re here today to continue the incredible progress we’re making in communities nationwide to ensure that as new data centers go up… electricity bills for American families will actually come down…” President Trump said. “With the Trump Administration’s Ratepayer Protection Plan, American innovators and consumers [win] together because we’re insisting that AI data centers and big tech companies pay their own way.”
The protection pledge has been agreed to by numerous big tech companies engaged in the development of AI, including Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon. The White House announced that other entities have signed onto the pledge, including energy utility companies, public power sources and state governors.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers confirmed the pledge has been expanded to offer greater protection to consumers, noting that the pledge would grow to include “governors, legislators, developers, and power providers to ensure everyone involved in building and powering data centers covers their own costs instead of passing them on to American families.”
Rogers emphasized the administration’s objective of balancing progress with consumer protection. “The President’s bold action is turning data centers into engines of growth for local communities, while cementing America’s dominance in the global AI race,” Rogers said.
Local leaders expressed their support for the plan and endorsed Trump’s approach to developing AI with a focus on consumer protection. “Who wins the AI race will absolutely control the levers of global power,” said Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. “But winning, as @POTUS said, cannot come at the cost of American families, and his Ratepayer Protection Pledge demands that tech companies cover the cost of power generation and infrastructure, rather than shifting them onto citizens.”
Trump’s announcement of the expanded pledge comes as the Ratepayer Protection Act is being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives. The accompanying legislation would encourage states to promote standards that require tech companies to cover their own energy bills and ensure associated costs are not passed on to individual consumers through rate increases.