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So utilities (presumably transmission providers who have a government-granted territorial monopoly, mind you) are complaining about not getting tariff on those behind the meter megawatts?
It seems like an alternate way to spin this story is that Big Tech is making agreements that avoid putting load on the nation's aging and overloaded transmission infrastructure, which would be a good thing.
Not that I'm endorsing them per se. Electricity pricing and policy is complicated, and increased demand will directly or indirectly increase consumer prices (though long term it could lower them or even help fund nuclear renaissance). But it just seems like another case of big companies being crybabies when they think it might help them get their way.
The problem is this allows big companies to skirt the power grid and therefore not have to invest money in it to make sure it's good and can instead continue to let the grid fall apart even more as they have their own private connections. This is the same reason why government run healthcare and forced public school would be good as it would force rich people to invest in these public goods rather then use their own private better versions.
Transmission providers don't build much new line for other reasons... It's hard, for example, to get utilities, environmental groups, landowners, and regulators from multiple jurisdictions to agree on things. This idea that providers would build more if there was just a bit more demand on the system (instead of simply pocketing the tariff increase) is fanciful. Moreover, that demand would simply generate more headwinds for renewables, who actually need transmission.
I'm not saying the increased demand would make them build more. I'm saying if companies are forced to rely on the grid they will help pressure/fund new expansions or maintenance on the power grid as if it fails they're gonna lose money. If they're not reliant on the grid anymore through things like this they would have no interest in making it better and they would stop applying pressure to make things better. And also atleast in my area increased demand from data center has caused attempts to build more transmission lines. Without these data centers having to use the public grid those investments wouldn't be happening. Now there's arguments to be had there about whether we should be encouraging data centers like this at all with the environmental cost of them using this much energy but if managed correctly it could lead to more investment in the power grid to make it better. Whereas if we allow companies to make their own power grid essentially then our current grid will be allowed to continue to fail.
And yet your hypothesis is clearly false, since until now they all used the grid and the grid was not improved.
Also, vast majority of companies will keep using the grid. It just doesn't make sense for a data center that uses a good chunk of nuclear powerplants output.
Well I can provide examples near me of the grid being improved, now it's often hard to directly link these to data centers as the power utilities will often focus on reliability and reducing costs as the reasons but based on where these are being built and where new data centers have been opening it does match up a bit with them trying to beef up connections to the west side. And again like I said these things do have environmental impacts that should be considered and all kinds of other reasons why they may not be the best thing to do but it does show that the network is being improved atleast indirectly because of data centers using more capacity.
https://www.portlandgeneralprojects.com/projects/harborton-reliability-project/
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/portland-general-allete-grid-united-north-plains-transmission/717312/