In an email, Manager of a County in Virginia with 37 datacenters 'confirms' fears that most communities have with datacenters; says: Starting July 1, rate we pay for electricity will ...

The data centers that power the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution are driving up electricity prices for households in America and price relief may not be coming anytime soon, according to energy experts.

These energy experts and economists point to electricity-hungry data centers that underpin AI projects as a key reason for the price inflation. And now residents of a County in Virginia are reportedly facing this. Henrico County is a major hub for data centers in Virginia.According to a report in 404 Media, on June 26, the County Manager of Henrico County, Virginia, John Vithoulkas, reportedly sent an email to thousands of county employees asking them to help the local government conserve electricity.

“Beginning July 1st, the rate we pay for electricity used in all Henrico County government and school facilities will increase dramatically — by 25%, increasing costs by an estimated $5 million next fiscal year.

We anticipate more rate increases for electricity in the years ahead.” 404 Media claims to have seen a copy of the email sent.“To mitigate the impact of higher electric costs, I am asking that we, collectively, make slight adjustments to conserve electricity across our individual workspaces,” Vithoulkas wrote in the email.

He adds, “Turn off your lights when leaving your workspace, including when you leave for the day. Turn off your computers/laptops at the end of each workday. If your workspace has windows, adjust the blinds to manage heat from sunlight.

Unplug any appliances, chargers, or other electrical items when they are not in use. Please limit use of (or refrain altogether from using) space heaters. A typical space heater alone can cost the county from $150 to $300 per year in electricity costs.”Vithoulkas’s email further said that these small changes may seem insignificant but that they add up. “Each dollar we can save by conserving electricity is another dollar the county can reinvest into staff and the services we provide our residents,” it said. It also noted that many county buildings had been outfitted with solar panels and that the people of Henrico had faced similar challenges in the past.Henrico County residents have complained about datacentersHenrico County is a community of more than 350,000 people in eastern Virginia.

It also hosts 37 data centers and there are plans to build 17 more. These datacenter plans include converting hundreds of acres of Civil War battlefields into data centers. Henrico County's proximity to Washington DC and vast amounts of land has made the County a data center hub. The client list of these datacenters include both big and small companies.

Facebook and WhatsApp parent Meta too has built a data center there in 2017.With the data centers have come problems and community pushback. During a community meeting earlier this year about new construction projects, Henrico residents reportedly discussed concerns about water use, noise, and the rising cost of their electric bills. One Henrico woman is said to have complained of her electricity bill double in the month of January despite using solar panels and a heat pump to keep costs down.