Data Center Affordability:
the Untold Utility Story

For utilities companies across the country, reliability scores are holding steady and infrastrucre investment is at historic highs, yet brand trust has fallen for three consecutive years. Something is getting lost in translation and the culprit isn't performance—it's perception. At the center of the issue is one of the most consequential shifts in generations: the data center boom. What follows is a look at how the industry got here, where trust breaks down, and what utilities can do about it.

According to a Heatmap survey of nearly 4,000 registered voters, Americans are more opposed to data centers than to battery storage facilities or nuclear plants. On the surface, it’s a peculiar result, given that data centers are less visually intrusive and prone to fire than either alternative, yet this finding isn't an outlier. Two months ago, MIT Technology Review published a piece titled “Data centers are amazing. Everyone hates them.”—cataloguing a range of grievances from water and land use, to scarce long-term jobs, to the constant hum of machines. Evidently, people have strong opinions on data centers, and utilities are getting caught in the storm—one that has a concrete source.

Data centers can draw as much power as a small city, often requiring costly transmission lines, power plants, and grid upgrades. These costs, which can reach billions of dollars, have historically been spread among all customers in the region (The Pew Research Center), as they are thought to benefit all customers (National Energy Technology Laboratory). However, this led to outrage in Georgia, as six rate hikes over two years was publicly blamed on data center growth and added over $500 annually to household bills (Politico). While President Trump stated in his recent State of the Union that major tech companies have an obligation to provide for their own power needs, private contracts between utilities and tech companies are typically confidential (The New York Times), leaving ratepayers with no way to verify whether data centers are actually covering a proportional share of the costs. 

This information gap runs deep and increases distrust. According to Navigator Research, a majority of Americans say they've heard little or nothing about data center construction in their country, and even fewer know about projects in their own communities. And so it should come as no surprise that, despite utility company reliability scores holding steady from 2024 to 2025 (American Customer Satisfaction Index), scores for bill clarity and community support declined in the same period.

J.D. Power's 2025 Brand Appeal Index tells the same story: electric utility scores dropped to 694 and gas to 714, with reputation attributes taking the steepest hit. Interestingly, Escalent's Brand Trust Index found that brand trust runs 5% higher among utilities that effectively communicate savings opportunities, environmental programs, and overall value—even when their service portfolios are identical to competitors. The differentiator, according to Suzanne Haggerty, director of syndicated research at Escalent, between other companies and the 2024 Most Trusted Brands is their expertise in crafting messages that strengthen customer awareness.

The pattern across the data is consistent: the more opaque the situation, the more trust erodes. Customers aren't rejecting their utilities. They've just lost the interpretive framework to read beneficial actions as good faith. 

Here are a few ways to restore it:

Get ahead of the conversation. Proactively addressing the data center boom in your marketing positions you as transparent, informed, and on the side of the customer before the questions even start.

Reframe the investment. The infrastructure upgrades required to support data centers can have long-term benefits for every ratepayer: greater reliability, more capacity, and investments in a stronger grid for decades to come. 

Talk to your customers as individuals. Not every customer has the same concerns. Identify who is most likely to disengage or push back, and develop targeted communications that speak directly to their specific frustrations.

by Maggie Dunn & Jaime Rossi

Posted By

Jaime Rossi

Communications Strategist/Public Affairs Leader/Motivational Manager