Trump expands voluntary pledge to blunt AI-driven utility bill surges

White House hails pledge that seeks to shield consumers from the cost of energy for data centres as ‘historic’.Published On 23 Jul 202623 Jul 2026US President Donald Trump’s administration has said it will expand a voluntary pledge seeking to shield consumers from the energy costs of the rapid expansion of data centres, mostly used by artificial intelligence companies.The White House announced on Thursday that it would add state governors and electricity companies to the agreement, first announced with tech and AI firms in March. But the US administration stopped short of any enforceable protections.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Hundreds of experts warn the world must prepare now for AI’s impactlist 2 of 3Can AI systems make moral decisions in war?list 3 of 3‘Unprecedented’: OpenAI says AI models autonomously hacked another companyend of listThe White House called the expansion of the pledge “historic”, saying 200 additional utilities, data centre developers and states would join it.The pledge is a “public commitment that hyperscalers, AI companies, and the utilities and data-center developers behind them will build, bring, or buy every kilowatt their facilities nee...