Amazon, other tech companies sign pledge to protect energy customers from rate hikes

HAMLET — As work continues at the Amazon Web Services complex in Richmond County, the company’s CEO has signed a pledge to not affect energy rates.

According to a press release from the White House, the heads of several tech companies joined President Donald Trump in signing the Ratepayer Protection Pledge on March 5.

The White House says the commitment “ensures the rapid growth of AI data centers powers American innovation without raising electricity costs for families and communities.”

“It’s a big deal; it’s going to have a tremendous impact on electricity costs,” Trump said. “Under this new agreement, Big Tech companies are committing to fully cover the cost of increased electricity production required for AI data centers — and that would mean prices for American communities will not go up, but in many cases, will actually come down.”

Tech companies signing the pledge were Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI, according to the White House.

A fact sheet states that the companies that signed the pledge will:

• “…negotiate separate rate structures with utilities and State governments, and commit to pay these rates for the power and related infrastructure brought online to service their data centers, whether they use the electricity or not.”
• “...coordinate with grid operators to make backup generation resources available, contributing to a more reliable grid and preventing blackouts and power shortages in times of emergency.”
• commit “to hiring and training talent from within the communities where they build and operate data centers, creating thousands of jobs and enhancing workforce skills.”

Amazon Web Services is currently constructing a 20-building data center complex at the Energy Way Industrial Park south of Hamlet, across from Duke Energy’s Smith Energy Complex.

“Amazon is proud to have signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge at the White House,” said AWS CEO Matt Garman. “We welcome the Administration’s leadership on this issue, and the pledge’s commitments which establish an important baseline that will protect ratepayers and enable responsible, long-term energy partnerships that strengthen the grid and communities where data centers operate.

“The Ratepayer Protection Pledge marks an important milestone as a national commitment to a stronger grid that supports American families, fuels our economy, and keeps the United States at the forefront of global innovation.”

Last November, Duke Energy filed rate hike requests with the N.C. Utilities Commission.

If approved, according to the company, residential customers with Duke Energy Progress using 1,000 kilowatt hours would see an increase of $23.11 in 2027, followed by another $6.59 in 2008. The respective increases for customers of Duke Energy Carolinas would be $17.22 in 2027 and $6.34.

Last month, the N.C. Energy Policy Task Force saying “demand for energy continues to grow rapidly due to new data centers, advanced manufacturing operations, and a growing population.”