A new report from RMI warns that utilities overinvesting in natural gas to meet surging data centre demand could raise average US household power bills by $94 to $118 annually. As data centres proliferate, utilities are bypassing traditional system-wide planning to build gas plants quickly, creating financial risks if demand forecasts prove inflated.

The US has become the global leader in gas-fired capacity development, surpassing China. Entergy Louisiana plans 10 gas plants for Meta's data centres, while Northern Indiana Public Service Company proposes two for Amazon. Georgia Power has approved 1,300MW then 3,692MW of new gas capacity in rapid succession. These long-lived assets face construction cost overruns, turbine backlogs, and volatile fuel prices.

"The speed at which things are happening is breaking the traditional planning process," said RMI's Jesse Cohen. Lauren Shwisberg noted many utilities commit to gas procurement outside normal cycles. Fixed costs must be recovered from fewer customers if data centres don't materialize, worsening affordability.

Solutions include better demand forecasting, accelerated planning cycles, staged procurement, and protective tariffs. Exelon recently cut its data centre pipeline by 11 gigawatts after requiring financial commitments from large-load customers, demonstrating how improved forecasting can filter speculative requests before capital is deployed.