With electricity prices climbing and regional grids straining under new demand, White House officials are advancing a policy framework designed to ensure the technology companies driving this growth—not American households—absorb the full financial burden of their infrastructure's utility and resiliency costs.

A Policy to "Internalize" Costs

The administration's point man on the issue, Senior Trade and Manufacturing Adviser Peter Navarro, outlined the approach in a recent television appearance. He stated that data center builders, from Meta on down, must be made to "pay for all, all of the costs," including not only their direct electricity and water consumption but also the broader costs of ensuring grid reliability. "They need to pay for the resiliency that they're affecting as well," Navarro said, indicating the White House is evaluating measures to force companies to "internalize" these expenses. The goal is explicit: to prevent corporate power usage from inflating consumer utility bills.

This administrative push aligns with actions already taken at the state level. In January, the White House joined several states in urging PJM Interconnection, the grid operator for data-center-heavy regions like Northern Virginia and New Jersey, to require large technology firms to finance billions in new power generation capacity. Energy Secretary Chris Wright emphasized the urgency, noting, "Perhaps no region in America is more at risk than in PJM."

The Compact: A Voluntary Pact with Teeth

Behind the scenes, the administration has been circulating a draft voluntary agreement, or "compact," for major AI firms like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta to sign. According to documents obtained by POLITICO, the pact would bind companies to a set of principles ensuring their expansion does not raise household electricity prices, strain water resources, or undermine grid reliability. Core commitments include:

Paying 100% of the cost for new power generation and transmission upgrades required for their facilities.

Working to establish rates that protect, or ideally reduce, residential electricity prices in their operating areas.

Committing to being "water positive" and mitigating community impacts like noise and traffic.
The compact represents a strategic effort to shape the AI infrastructure boom without formal regulation, while addressing a growing political vulnerability. President Trump has touted early cooperation, announcing a deal with Microsoft and promising more agreements are forthcoming.

Industry Pushback and Political Stakes

Technology companies have been quick to assert they are already responsible corporate actors. A Meta spokesperson stated, "Meta pays the full costs for energy used by our data centers so they aren't passed onto consumers — and we go beyond that by paying for new and upgraded local infrastructure." Industry groups argue that well-structured agreements can make data centers a net positive for grid stability and costs.