Data Center Lobbying Is Booming as Tech and Energy Giants Face ‘Affordability’ Backlash

Dozens of Silicon Valley giants, utility providers and other companies stand to earn a fortune from the nation’s artificial intelligence boom.

And according to new lobbying disclosures reviewed by NOTUS, these special interests together spent big money late last year to score favorable treatment from federal lawmakers and regulators on what’s fast becoming a central issue of the 2026 midterm elections: the proliferation of data centers that undergird AI’s existence.

Energy demand from data centers has increased in recent years, leading to soaring prices and increasing threats of blackouts. Energy experts have raised doubts about whether the nation’s power grid can withstand data center demand — particularly as President Donald Trump attempts to stymie renewable energy development and generation.

Hand-wringing over the proliferation of data centers — which has played a huge role in recent U.S. economic growth — has already hit Congress. Members of both parties are now publicly weighing the economic benefits of the construction boom against the risks to the power grid and costs to energy consumers, with some on the left calling for at least temporary limits on data center construction.

A data center owned by Amazon Web Services, front right, was under construction next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Berwick, Pa., on Jan. 14, 2025. Ted Shaffrey/AP

Edison Electric Institute was one of the nation’s biggest lobbying spenders last quarter. The investor-owned association of electric companies poured $2.33 million into its lobbying efforts in an attempt to influence “data center issues generally,” among other issues.

“EEI engages with policymakers to advance policies that support responsible data center development, protect everyday Americans from cost shifts and strengthen the grid for American families and businesses,” Jeremy White, an Edison Electric Institute spokesperson, wrote to NOTUS.

American Electric Power, a large investor-owned utility in the Midwest, spent $360,000 during the fourth quarter of 2025 to lobby Congress, the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, partly on data center matters.

“As one of America’s largest energy companies, policymakers often ask AEP for our perspective on how large customers of all types, including data centers, impact the energy grid,” Scott Blake, a spokesperson for AEP, wrote to NOTUS in a statement.

Exelon Business Services, a subsidiary of the utility company Exelon, spent $460,000 last quarter lobbying on energy policy, including “resource adequacy, reliability, and data center load growth matters,” according to its disclosure.

A spokesperson for Exelon did not answer questions from NOTUS about those issues and whom Exelon lobbied in Congress.

“Exelon continuously advocates for solutions that will ensure reliable energy delivery for our customers while also keeping bills as low as possible,” the spokesperson said.

Utility companies from across the country — including Portland General Electric and Puget Sound Energy in the Pacific Northwest, WEC Energy Group in the Midwest, CMS Energy in Michigan, FirstEnergy in Ohio, Dominion Energy in Virginia and more — also reported lobbying specifically on data center issues.

The Data Center Coalition, which did not immediately respond for comment, spent more than $500,000 on federal-level lobbying last quarter, including $50,000 specifically on data-center-related lobbying according to federal disclosures.

The group, which represents companies leading data center expansion like Google and Microsoft, targeted Trump as well as the Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget, which enforces how federal agencies use artificial intelligence.

Several other organizations also lobbied the Trump administration directly.

Nebius Group, an AI infrastructure company, hired the lobbying firm BGR Group to lobby the White House on data center policy.

In response to an email from NOTUS asking how the administration’s conversations with lobbyists have influenced its thoughts and policymaking direction on data centers, White House spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement that “President Trump makes decisions based solely on what’s best for the country, which is why America is the hottest country in the world right now.”

Other tech giants spent millions of dollars last quarter to influence Congress, where there are growing bipartisan concerns about Trump’s AI agenda.

Amazon disclosed more than $4 million in lobbying last quarter alone. The company indicated that its team of lobbyists pressed lawmakers and Trump administration officials on issues that include “data centers,” “grid modernization” and “energy production,” among other legislative and policy priorities.

Oracle, whose co-founder Larry Ellison has close ties to Trump, disclosed more than $2 million in fourth-quarter lobbying spending to in part influence policy involving “power generation for Artificial Intelligence data centers.”

OpenAI, one of the world’s leading AI labs, disclosed more than $1 million last quarter to influence policy areas such as “data centers and small business competitiveness” and “cloud computing and infrastructure,” according to lobbying disclosure forms. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, has also fostered a close relationship with the Trump administration, including donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

Google is somewhat of an exception. Data centers are only mentioned once in Google Client Services’ $3.4 million lobbying disclosure filing, with a focus on “foreign data centers” specifically. The company also lobbied on electricity grid issues.

Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle and OpenAI did not comment on the record for this story.

Also driving significant lobbying activity were a handful of companies that do not power or own data centers but nevertheless stand to benefit from AI-driven data center expansion.

Ecolab, a company that offers data center cooling and other water-use-related services, spent more than $400,000 lobbying Congress and federal agencies on “discussions related to data center water efficiency and energy efficiency.”

Siemens, which offers a host of data-center-related services such as automation and fire safety, spent almost $1 million overall on federal lobbying during the fourth quarter.

Bloom Energy, which spent a total of $330,000 in the last quarter of 2025, is ascendant in the data center industry. The company sells fuel cells, a rapidly proliferating technology that converts natural gas into electricity with little to no carbon-dioxide-producing combustion. Earlier this month, grid operator AEP renewed its purchase agreement for Bloom Energy fuel cells, raising the total value of the deal to $2.65 billion.

Bloom Energy’s lobbying disclosures indicated it lobbied Congress and the Executive Office of the President late last year on “issues related to addressing energy delivery challenges associated with demand for data centers and AI Infrastructure.”Electricity prices have increased in parts of the country with growing energy demands from data centers, connecting this issue to affordability, a central talking point in the lead-up to the 2026 midterms.

The Trump administration has sought to address some of these concerns, including in a bipartisan agreement announced this month directing power grid operator PJM Interconnection to force data centers to foot their own energy costs.

Democrats, for their part, have criticized Republicans for not moving quickly enough while placating monied corporate interests. They’ve made “affordability” a watchword in their efforts to win back the House and Senate, particularly when it comes to utility prices.

As affordability remains at the forefront of voter concerns, data centers have become a target, with new candidates and longtime lawmakers from both parties raising concerns about the unrestricted growth of these facilities.

Late last year, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive, called for a pause on all data center construction citing energy cost as one of the main reasons.

“Data centers and artificial intelligence are issues that the American people are extremely concerned about and I think are not happy with inactivity here in this Congress,” Sanders told NOTUS. “Electricity bills are soaring as a result of data centers, but on top of that, I think we are not prepared as a nation to deal with the transformational changes that AI is going to bring.” Supporters of the AI industry, such as Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte, are trying to walk the line between ensuring power for data centers while trying to protect constituents.

“We’re very concerned about the energy needs and the energy usages of data centers,” Obernolte, who sits at the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, told NOTUS. “I want to make sure they get the energy that they need. We also want to make sure that they don’t affect availability for other people or pricing, especially for consumers.”

All the while, the AI boom keeps booming, with Google, Oracle, OpenAI and Amazon pledging billions of dollars to build massive data centers necessary to develop AI models. These investments have also created a new civic and political opposition to the unregulated building of these facilities as utility costs have skyrocketed in some parts of the country.

Technology giants are projected to spend $7 trillion in new data centers by 2030 to satisfy the demand for more computer processing power. However, tens of billions of dollars in investments were blocked last year due opposition at the local level, according to Data Center Watch.