Families could get see higher electric bills if AI data boom goes bust

Data centers that haven't been built yet are driving up electricity prices and could leave consumers on the hook for expensive power infrastructure if demand projections are wrong.

The race to build facilities that provide artificial intelligence has fueled a boom in data centers that train and run large language models, like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, upending a utility industry that grew used to 20 years of no increase in electricity demand.

But now, some investors and energy market analysts are questioning whether the AI race has turned into a bubble, one that would prove expensive to unravel as new transmission lines and power plants are built to support those data centers.

Consumers served by the largest electric grid in the U.S. will pay $16.6 billion to secure futur