Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Electricity Costs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Energy expert tells Sunbury: speculative data‑center forecasts can raise transmission and capacity costs
Summary
An independent energy adviser told Sunbury council that transmission and capacity planning often use optimistic data‑center forecasts; he urged transparency, load‑forecast integrity and requiring data centers to pay for upgrades or contract generation to avoid socializing billions in costs.
John Sriak of Runnerstone and Go Sustainable Energy told the Sunbury City Council that electricity customers pay many bills at once — distribution, transmission and capacity — and that data centers can affect the latter two most directly.
"One bill, many companies," Sriak said, and he emphasized that utilities recoup investment by building infrastructure, not by the volume of electrons moved. He warned that transmission and capacity upgrades built to forecasts that include speculative data-center load can be socialized across all ratepayers.
Sriak described a central planning problem: transmission and capacity build decisions are based on forecasts, and when a large prospective load is counted as future demand it can justify expensive upgrades. He cited an independent-market estimate presented in his remarks that existing data centers have added roughly $2 billion in capacity cost across a broad footprint, while unbuilt forecasted load could represent far larger exposures (discussed as a $21 billion scenario in planning models).
To reduce risk he urged three policy responses: require more rigorous, auditable load-forecast integrity; publish transmission ‘‘heat maps’’ so communities can see where upgrades are likely needed; and change cost allocation so large new users pay for the transmission upgrades they trigger or contract their own generation. "Data centers could push bills higher, especially the speculative load," Sriak said, adding that requiring developers to pay upfront for upgrades would keep those costs off residential bills.
On local mitigation, Sriak noted that behind-the-meter generation (fuel cells, gas plants, batteries) and microgrids can be used to reduce reliance on the transmission system, but these options carry trade-offs (emissions, land use, noise). He also cautioned that air-cooling alternatives are energy-inefficient compared with water cooling, meaning cooling choices shift the pressure between water and electricity.
Council members pressed Sriak on what local actions they can take; he recommended engagement with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, state lawmakers and regional planners, and said cities can press for transparent forecasts and advocate for tariff structures that allocate costs to the project that causes them.
No vote or new energy rule was adopted at the meeting; the presentation concluded and the council adjourned.
