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Policy forum presents statewide data-center analysis to Port Washington council; shows long-term declines in utility sales and water use
Summary
Jason Stein of the Wisconsin Policy Forum told the council data centers nationally account for just over 4% of U.S. electricity in 2023 and cited projections of growth; he also presented 20-year trends of declining electricity and water sales in Wisconsin to give context for local data-center debates.
Jason Stein, president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, told the Port Washington Common Council on March 17 that data centers are a growing share of electricity demand and that local officials should weigh that in light of longer-term declines in utility sales and water use.
"In 2023, nationally, data centers used a little over 4% of all electricity consumed in the United States," Stein said, and he cited Energy Information Administration projections that the share could rise toward roughly 6.5%–12% by 2028. Stein emphasized that the Forum is not an advocate for siting decisions but provides data and analysis: the Forum's January brief on data-center water and power usage is publicly available on its website.
Stein presented two pieces of context for the council: a two-decade decline in Wisconsin electricity sales (driven by lower industrial consumption and efficiency changes) and an 18% decline in statewide municipal water sales since the late 1990s. "Between 2005 and 2024 electricity sales by Wisconsin utilities in megawatt hours fell by 9%," Stein said, and he noted that declines in industrial and commercial use have reduced utility revenues, which affects how utilities recover costs when new large customers arrive.
Council members asked about the timing and sources of the Forum’s data. Stein said the Forum compiled water-utility data earlier and gathered power-usage data in November and December 2025; the Forum reviews utility reports filed with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and corroborates findings with utilities and other stakeholders.
Stein cautioned that although proposed modern hyperscale data centers can use large amounts of power and water in absolute terms, the local and regional context matters: some utilities have capacity on paper and some water utilities have absorbed large declines in sales over decades. He said the Forum will publish a larger project this summer that will include case studies about siting decisions in Wisconsin and hoped to include Port Washington in that work.
The council heard the presentation before a public-comment period that focused on a nearby proposed AI data center and related power-plant and community impacts.
