A June 19 segment on Fox News host Bret Baier’s Special Report highlighted how the data center boom could lead to increased energy costs for consumers due to the centers’ enormous energy demand. But the segment neglected to mention that President Donald Trump’s cuts to renewable energy tax credits — which were established in the Inflation Reduction Act — are making it harder to meet the growing demand for energy. 

The tech companies building these data centers have been advocating to preserve the tax credits that Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” would eliminate. So far, these efforts have been largely unsuccessful as the administration continues to pursue its “drill baby drill” agenda.

During the segment, Baier noted that “artificial intelligence may already be affecting your life, even if you know nothing about AI. It turns out the energy required by this evolving technology could mean higher cooling bills this summer.”

Fox Business correspondent Madison Alworth added: “Data centers, the backbone of AI, use a lot of energy, and their energy demands are growing at the same time we are seeing higher temperatures, electricity shortages, and an aging electric grid. According to a government estimate, electricity bills will be about 4% higher this summer than last.” 

Alworth highlighted that in states with large concentrations of data centers, “consumers are already paying a lot more. In Illinois, Ameren customers are seeing their electricity bills rise by 50%. In Pennsylvania, PPL customers are paying 16% more as of this month. In Maryland, electric bills are climbing $15 to $18 a month.” 

Alworth interviewed Mark Wolfe of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, who said data centers’ “consumption puts more pressure on the grid. And some people have argued that their rates are not appropriate. They should be higher. Because if they’re not sufficient to cover their costs of electricity, then consumers pay more.” 

What Baier and Alworth did not mention in the segment is that these projects may be impacted by Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which threatens to cut tax credits that are helping facilitate a clean energy boom that is bringing the most affordable power online. Last year alone, clean energy technologies accounted for 93% of the new energy generation capacity added to the grid.

Tech companies are advocating to preserve clean energy tax credits slashed in the Big Beautiful Bill 

Tech companies behind the data center boom have also invested in renewable energy sources that are key to mitigating high energy and public health costs, in addition to climate change impacts. Absent the IRA’s tax credits, however, and due to increasing hostility from the Trump administration toward renewable energy, Big Tech will turn to fossil fuels to meet energy demand. 

In June, a group called the Data Center Coalition, whose members include Amazon Web Services, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune to save the credits, at least for a little while. 

According to Politico, the group sent Thune a letter asking him to “extend the deadline for building new clean energy facilities with the subsidies.”

“The letter warned that energy constraints could hinder or delay the buildout of data centers vital to U.S. leadership in AI, and that the credits were important to being sure that new power got built,” Politico reported. “‘We urge you to take a pragmatic approach to ensure we can meet the energy needs of data centers at a pivotal moment for our industry and country,’ the letter reads.” 

But the bill, which Republicans are trying to pass by the Fourth of July, would still end many clean energy tax breaks in 2026. As Heatmap News explains, in the Senate’s most recent version of the bill, “tax credits for wind and solar … would begin to phase down for projects that start construction next year, and terminate after 2027.” 

While there are exceptions for projects that meet certain strict criteria, only one project, a 6-gigawatt solar farm in Nevada that is in the final stages of its environmental review, may benefit. 

If the clean energy transition is slowed down, companies that are building data centers such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google will increasingly turn to new polluting infrastructure to support them. In Louisiana, for example, Entergy has a contract with Meta to build three gas-powered plants and a transmission line. Residents, who according to 404 Media live “in one of the poorest regions of the state” worry that energy costs will “balloon.” 

An analysis from Business Insider found that “ cutting-edge computer farms are often powered by old-school energy sources that churn out pollution.” The analysis also found that they are “pushing data centers' expected air-pollution-related public health costs to between $5.7 billion and $9.2 billion annually.” 

Fox News spent years falsely claiming the Inflation Reduction Act and its supposed “Green New Deal” policies would raise energy costs for Americans. But in reality, repealing these credits will increase energy costs. As the amount of energy needed to power fast-moving AI technology becomes clear, it also becomes clear that Trump’s impossible campaign promise to cut energy prices in half will not come to fruition.