America has plenty of electricity. So why is your bill skyrocketing?

A recent survey found that two-thirds of Americans believe AI is driving up their power bills, and most said they cannot afford more than a $20 monthly increase. The surge in electricity demand from tech companies is rewriting the economics of the grid, and households are footing the bill for an "AI power tax" they never voted for. The issue is not a lack of electricity, but rather a broken system that hides the real cost of peak demand and shifts the burden onto ordinary people. The US tech companies will spend $300-400 billion on AI infrastructure in 2025, which is over 2% of GDP, and this "industrialization of intelligence" has sparked the steepest electricity demand growth since World War II. Residential electric prices have climbed nearly 40% since January 2021, and the cost of ensuring reliability has spiked 11 times in just two years, with analysts attributing two-thirds of the increase to data centers. The problem is not AI, but rather figuring out how to unlock the slack capacity of the existing grid where and when it is needed. The current "one price fits all" approach hides the true cost of peak demand, and households and small businesses pay flat retail rates that do not reflect real-time scarcity or cost. The good news is that the technology to fix this already exists, including smart meters, smart thermostats, and home batteries that can automatically shift usage without impacting comfort or convenience. To unlock the full potential of this technology, structural reform is needed, such as deregulating the "final mile" of the grid, to allow households and small businesses to access real-time pricing and level the playing field with large corporations. By empowering consumers to participate in the grid and providing them with real market incentives, innovators can help stabilize the grid and lower costs for everyone.