California
Data centers have become the whipping boy of high electric bills; consumers believe they are paying higher rates because of these power-hungry server farms. However, it is not that simple, writes Kristen Walker of The American Consumer Institute.
California continues to go all in on data center development, with Pacific Gas and Electric playing its role in the last quarter of 2025 by pushing gigawatts of projects through the investor-owned utility’s design and approval process.
CAISO released its first mandatory report under the California assembly bill that paves the way for an independent regional organization to assume responsibility over the ISO’s energy markets.
The California Energy Commission signed off on a forecast showing the state's electricity consumption could surge by as much as 61% over the next 20 years, mostly from increased EV adoption.
The California Public Utility Commission approved construction of a set of transmission infrastructure projects to support a 90-MW data center owned by Microsoft, but questions remain about whether the upgrades will increase or decrease ratepayer costs.
California’s electricity consumption is projected to increase dramatically over the coming decades due in large part to planned artificial intelligence data centers, although questions remain about how many of those data centers actually will be built.
The California Department of Water Resources and other parties have asked CAISO to restart a transmission access charge initiative that was put on hold in 2018 due to the development of the ISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market.
The California PUC approved a request to cancel Pacific Gas and Electric’s contract with California State University, Monterey Bay to convert hundreds of the university’s residential units from gas and electric service to all-electric service.
At a two-day workshop held by the CEC, offshore wind experts and fishermen identified many challenges associated with building offshore wind turbines in Humboldt Bay and other parts of the coastline while not displacing the fishing industry.
In a rare split decision, the California Public Utilities Commission approved $51.2 million in additional funds for electrification projects for San Diego Gas & Electric customers.
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