Key Takeaways
- Amazon has joined the White House energy pledge to help strengthen the power grid and protect customers from higher costs.
- We cover all of our data center energy costs, including expenses for new energy sources and grid improvements.
- Since 2020, Amazon has been one of the world’s largest buyers of carbon-free energy.
- Amazon operates more than 700 carbon-free projects providing over 40 GW of energy to communities.
Today, Amazon is proud to have signed the ratepayer protection pledge at the White House. We appreciate the administration’s leadership on this issue. The pledge sets an important standard to protect ratepayers and support responsible long-term energy partnerships that strengthen the grid and the communities where our data centers are located.
At Amazon, we build and run our data centers responsibly. We pay all our costs ourselves and invest in new energy sources that strengthen the grid for everyone. When we build a data center, we also invest in the local community.
Because of these efforts, Amazon data centers create thousands of skilled jobs, open up new opportunities for local businesses, generate hundreds of millions in tax revenue for schools and services, and support programs that help people find good jobs.
We understand that rising utility costs are a concern for American families. While data centers are often discussed, independent studies show they actually help keep rates lower even as other factors drive costs up.
When Amazon builds new data centers, we also help upgrade the power grid. Meeting the country’s growing energy needs is key to keeping electricity affordable and reliable, supporting daily life, growing the economy, and keeping the U.S. competitive.
Amazon’s Role in America’s Electricity System
Amazon pays all of its electricity costs and invests heavily in new energy generation and transmission infrastructure that benefits our communities. We work with grid operators and other partners to ensure the grid can meet future demand and that costs are not passed on to customers.
For example, we have participated in utility rate proceedings in Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, and Virginia to ensure we protect ratepayers and pay the full cost to serve our data centers. For Amazon, paying the monthly power bill is only part of what it takes to run a data center responsibly. We also pay for the additional infrastructure to deliver the power to our data centers, including new transmission lines, substations, and other grid upgrades.
We achieve this through long-term agreements with utilities that include things like:
- minimum demand charges
- financial guarantees
- multi-year commitments
These agreements ensure Amazon pays all the costs of serving our data centers, not households or small businesses.
Amazon’s Great Modernization Benefits Local Communities
Amazon’s long-term commitments gave utilities the confidence and funding to update the grid, supporting nearby communities, households, and businesses, for example:
- In Indiana, regulators approved an agreement between Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) and Amazon that will save NIPSCO customers about $1 billion over 15 years near Amazon’s Project RAGNAR, one of the world’s largest AI compute facilities. Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) recently announced rate reductions. The extra revenue from data center growth is helping lower customers’ costs.
- In Louisiana, Amazon partnered with Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), to cover all costs related to our new data center campus. This includes fully funding new energy infrastructure and grid upgrades needed for Amazon’s data centers. These investments also improve dependability for all SWEPCO customers.
- Entergy has launched a 300 million grid transformation project in Mississippi to improve reliability and aims to cut outages by half with investments from Amazon and other large customers. Residential customers will not incur any additional costs.
- In Pennsylvania, our agreements ensure that we contribute to the transmission system. According to PPL Electric Utilities, this helps reduce costs and funds local grid upgrades, benefiting all energy users in the area.
In Pennsylvania, our investment in the new Salem Township Data Center campus also provides major financial support for the nearby Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant. This helps ensure the plant can keep producing safe, reliable nuclear energy for years to come.
How Amazon Is Helping Power America’s AI Future
The American economy is growing, and energy demand is rising due to advanced manufacturing, transportation, and new technologies such as AI. This shows economic strength and potential, but it also means our grid needs to modernize much faster than before. To do this, utilities, regulators, policymakers, and energy providers must work together, develop smart policies, expedite permitting, and continue investing in transmission infrastructure.
Amazon invests in long-term energy commitments to build a stronger, more affordable energy future. We lead as one of the largest buyers of carbon-free energy and operate over 700 projects, providing more than 40 GW of capacity.
These projects do more than add new carbon-free energy. They create thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs in their communities. They supply new energy for homes, hospitals, and schools, and modernize the infrastructure that keeps costs stable and affordable. They also support AI innovation and new technologies that are key to America’s leadership.
We are also leading the way in new nuclear power in Washington. We signed an agreement to develop advanced small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) with capacities up to 960 MW. We have invested in X-energy, a leading US company developing SMRs to help add more than 5 GW of new nuclear capacity by 2039. We are also working with US national labs, such as Idaho National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to use our AI technology to help them develop the next generation of safe nuclear fission and fusion power.
A Responsible Way Forward
By signing the Red Pair Protection Pledge today, Amazon is committed to strengthening America’s energy future. We seek to improve affordability, reliability, and innovation by investing in new grid energy, building responsibly, and partnering with communities to deliver digital economy benefits for everyone.
Even as we invest in modernizing the grid, more work is needed. Much of America’s electric grid was built for a different time, and now 70% of transmission lines are over 25 years old. Slow permitting and administrative delays are holding back important energy and infrastructure projects, causing higher utility bills and putting growth and US competitiveness at risk. That’s why we keep encouraging bipartisan network teamwork at all levels to unlock private-sector innovation and investment, strengthen America’s technology, and protect long-term economic and national security.
The Ratepayer Protection Pledge is an important step toward a stronger grid that supports American families, drives our economy, and keeps the United States at the forefront of global innovation. We look forward to working with the Administration, Congress, utilities, regulators, and policymakers at every level to protect ratepayers, strengthen the grid, invest in national infrastructure, and build America’s energy future.
Source: A responsible path forward for America’s energy future
