The Trump administration announced on Friday that it would work with states to ensure that the nationwide artificial intelligence race does not drive up the costs of electricity for millions of Americans.
Federal officials said they would push PJM, the largest grid operator, to strike deals with top technology companies to ensure that the bill for boosting the nation’s power supply falls on the likes of Facebook, Google and OpenAI, not individuals.
The demand for electricity — along with the price — has soared as Silicon Valley pours billions of dollars into the construction of power-hungry data centers to enable its ambitions in A.I. The average electricity bill jumped by 5 percent in October compared with the same month one year earlier, according to the Energy Information Administration.
But experts said the Trump administration’s plans were unlikely to lower prices quickly because it may take time to address the matter through regulation. Even then, it could be years before investments actually translate into greater electricity production, lowering consumers’ bills.
“I think it’s positive, but it’s not magic,” said Joseph Bowring, president of Monitoring Analytics, PJM’s independent market monitor.
The White House directive appeared to hinge on the participation of technology giants and PJM, which serves all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia, a swath of that includes the largest concentration of data centers in the United States. The Trump administration and state leaders said they wanted to see PJM protect ratepayers from price increases.
Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, said in a statement that the goal was to ensure that the government was “powering the Mid-Atlantic and part of the Midwest’s future without charging its citizens a cent.”
PJM was reviewing the administration’s plans, said Jeff Shields, a spokesman for the grid operator, adding that it was not invited to an event Friday at the White House.
The announcement nonetheless underscored the political sensitivities of rising energy bills for both the president and state officials from both parties, some of whom normally count among Mr. Trump’s biggest critics. Among those to endorse the new White House effort were Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, both Democrats, as well as Govs. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, two Republicans.
Voters have cited the cost and local impact of data centers as a top issue in recent elections, and the White House is scrambling to convince the public that the economy is trending in a positive direction.
On Tuesday, Microsoft said it had asked local regulators to “set our rates high enough to cover the electricity costs for our data centers,” a move that Mr. Trump later heralded, as he promised more action to bring down costs.
“I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers,” the president said on social media.
Ivan Penn contributed reporting.
Tony Romm is a reporter covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The Times, based in Washington.
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