The electricity demands of artificial intelligence (AI) are outpacing the infrastructure designed to meet them. Data centers, hyperscale cloud hubs, and the sprawling computational networks powering modern AI require levels of reliable, affordable electricity that few utility planners anticipated even five years ago.
Elizabeth K. Whitney, managing principal at Meguire Whitney and a nearly two-decade advocate for consumer-owned utilities, sits at the intersection of that pressure, helping community-owned energy providers navigate the policy and planning challenges that come with powering a technology revolution they were never designed for. “AI isn’t just reshaping technology,” Whitney says. “It’s reshaping our power grid. And utilities are being asked to meet demands no one imagined even five years ago.” How those utilities respond, and whether federal policy gives them the tools to do so, will determine whether AI infrastructure growth strengthens or strains the communities it lands in.
AI Is Creating a New Kind of Load Growth
The scale of electricity demand driven by AI development is unlike anything the utility sector has previously planned for. In regions with access to clean, affordable power, AI developers are concentrating infrastructure rapidly, creating load growth that outpaces the timelines conventional utility planning is built around.
For public power providers, the challenge is not simply meeting that demand. It is doing so without compromising the reliability and rate fairness that define their mission to the communities they serve. “Public power providers are managing rapid load growth, while preserving reliability and keeping rates fair for all customers,” Whitney says. The gap between AI infrastructure needs and grid capacity is real, and closing it requires a pace of investment and decision-making that the sector has rarely been asked to sustain.
Local Control Is a Strategic Advantage
Where investor-owned utilities must navigate shareholder priorities alongside community obligations, consumer-owned utilities, municipal utilities, and electric cooperatives operate with a structural advantage in the current environment: the ability to move quickly and align decisions directly with community priorities. Municipal and cooperative utilities are forming public-private partnerships with AI developers, establishing transparent load forecasting processes, and negotiating service agreements that protect local ratepayers, while enabling the infrastructure growth AI demands. “Flexibility and responsiveness are becoming our competitive edge,” she says. Community-owned utilities are not waiting for permission to adapt. They are building the frameworks that allow innovation and community protection to coexist, and doing it faster than the investor-owned model typically allows.
Federal Policy Must Catch Up
The structural gap Whitney is most focused on is at the federal level. AI infrastructure has become a national priority, but the funding mechanisms and regulatory frameworks being designed to support it were not built with community-owned utilities in mind. The result is a policy environment that risks accelerating AI’s energy demands without adequately supporting the utility model best positioned to meet them at the local level.
“Federal funding and regulatory designs often overlook community-owned utilities,” Whitney says. Closing that gap requires targeted intervention, streamlined permitting, dedicated Department of Energy programs, and regulatory frameworks that account for multiple governance models rather than defaulting to the investor-owned utility as the assumed standard. “If we’re going to meet these demands at scale, we need targeted support that accounts for multiple governance models and a mission-driven approach.”
Powering the Future Without Losing the Mission
The decisions being made right now about grid infrastructure, federal policy, and utility partnerships will shape how AI development lands in communities across the country, whether it strengthens local economies and energy systems or extracts value from them.
Whitney’s position is clear. Consumer-owned power is ready for this moment, but readiness alone is not enough without the policy environment to support it. “With smart policy, strategic planning, and a community-first mindset, we can power the future without compromising the values that make electric utilities so vital,” she says. The grid that powers AI must also remain a grid that works for the communities it serves. Building both at the same time is the work.
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