Everyday use of artificial intelligence tools is growing, and with it, plans to build power-hungry data centers to support them. On Wednesday, Missouri lawmakers on the House Utilities Committee explored the potential benefits and pitfalls of the forthcoming data center boom.
Ameren Missouri officials told lawmakers Wednesday that the company plans to increase energy generation capacity by 50% in the next four years, largely in response to anticipated data center usage.
Rob Dixon is vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs for Ameren Missouri and lobbies on behalf of the company before the Missouri legislature. The corporate utility has contracts to provide 2.2 gigawatts of electricity to large energy consumers, such as data centers — approximately the amount of energy needed to power 1.6 million homes.
Dixon said due to a utility law passed last year, residential customers won't be charged for the cost of investments corporate utilities need to make to serve energy-intensive data centers.
"We are not providing them with discounts or incentives, and those large customers help everybody by contributing to the fixed costs of the system, the infrastructure that we all use, and they help keep rates lower for everybody else," he said.
Missouri regulations require data centers to pay for their costs to connect to the grid and sign a minimum 12-year contract for the electricity they'll use. Dixon said data centers will also pay higher electricity rates when demand is up.
"When a large data center comes into our area, they must sign that contract, or, frankly, they can look elsewhere," he said.
Many policymakers touted both the jobs and the tax revenue they believe data centers could bring to Missouri communities during the informational hearing.
That benefit was echoed by Matt Enloe, vice president of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 513. He said the two data centers being built in Montgomery County have provided jobs for his members.
"This year alone, I personally sent 200 Missourians to work as operating engineers on these projects," Enloe said.
Enloe told Missouri House members that, given current labor shortages, encouraging data center development could help retain the state's workforce.
"Make no mistake, information is going to be the currency of the future. So if someone wants to store it here in Missouri responsibly, I think we need to welcome them to Missouri," he said.
However, consumer advocates expressed concerns that residents would be charged for new power plants built to serve data centers.
"The rest of us are paying for power plants before the data centers are here, but obviously, the power plants are being built for the data centers that are in the future," said John Coffman, attorney for the Consumers Council of Missouri. "It's a real mismatch."
Coffman encouraged lawmakers to consider stricter consumer protections for energy-intensive businesses, such as data centers.
"We know that in Missouri, about 40% of residential customers are living paycheck to paycheck. They say they can't stand another increase to their bills," he said.
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