Microsoft, PowerHouse Hillwood in disputes over data center service agreements

Two big tech companies are fighting utilities over who pays for the power infrastructure that massive data centers need — a dispute that matters to homeowners because it's about keeping those costs off regular electric bills. Microsoft told federal regulators that agreements covering its data center expansion in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, don't do enough to protect utility customers from footing the bill for new transmission lines and equipment. Microsoft says it wants to pay its own way, but claims the deal as written could let the utility charge large customers twice or stick regular ratepayers with some costs. Wisconsin's utility regulator agrees more work is needed, though it called the current proposal an improvement.

In Illinois, a company called PowerHouse Hillwood is in a separate fight with ComEd over a planned $20 billion data center in Joliet. ComEd tried to cancel a service agreement, and PowerHouse Hillwood is asking federal regulators to block that move, accusing the utility of using its monopoly position unfairly.

Both disputes stem from a federal push earlier this year to make sure the surge in data center construction doesn't quietly raise electric bills for everyone else. Regulators have given grid operators until mid-November to fix their rules. For homeowners, the outcome matters because it will help determine whether the enormous cost of wiring up these data centers gets absorbed by the tech companies building them, or spread across everyone's monthly electric bill.