Data centers and your electric bill
Marketplace Morning Report
American Public Media
4.5 • 808 Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Electricity prices are up 6.9% year over year — much higher than overall inflation — and costs are expected to go up even more in the future. So, how are energy-hungry data centers, used to power AI, crypto, and more, impacting electric bills? That's a question that several Senate Democrats had, who opened an investigation into tech firms this week. Also on the show: TikTok ownership and real estate agents' thoughts on the market.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | American and Middle Eastern new ownership is on the way for TikTok USA. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. |
| 0:09.7 | TikTok's long-awaited split from its China-based owner is now in motion after its parent company, |
| 0:15.5 | ByteDance signed a binding agreement to hand over control of the U.S. operations of the popular social media platform |
| 0:22.6 | to a group led by the database firm Oracle. Lily Jamali is tech correspondent for our partners at the BBC. |
| 0:29.5 | The deal, brokered in part by the White House, is meant to put TikTok in compliance with a U.S. law |
| 0:34.5 | passed last year that required its American arm to be banned if it wasn't |
| 0:39.0 | sold. U.S. lawmakers expressed concerns that bite dances ties to Beijing meant it could potentially |
| 0:45.1 | control the content fed to American users by TikTok's algorithm. TikTok has denied those |
| 0:51.0 | allegations. The deal is expected to close on the 22nd of January. |
| 0:56.1 | Under the Agreement Oracle, the Private Equity Group Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will hold an 80.1% stake in the new TikTok USDS, while BiteDance of China will hold on to 19.9%. China's antitrust regulators still will have a say in this. |
| 1:14.1 | We'll learn how many used homes and apartments were sold in November later this morning. People with |
| 1:18.9 | older, lower mortgages aren't selling much, and low inventory and medium-high mortgage rates |
| 1:24.0 | are keeping buyers locked out. Now, that's the national picture marketplace. |
| 1:28.1 | As Amy Scott now looks at variations by region. Austin, Texas was the poster child of the |
| 1:33.9 | pandemic-era housing boom. But Crystal Shaw with Roots Residential Group says today it's a buyer's market. |
| 1:41.5 | Sales have slowed, prices have fallen, and sellers are making concessions, |
| 1:46.2 | like doing repairs or buying down interest rates. Ultimately for affordability in Austin, |
| 1:51.5 | it is a good thing that prices have readjusted. In Cleveland, Ohio, it's a different story. Longtime |
| 1:57.8 | agent Doxy Jelks says the traditionally more affordable market continues to attract plenty of demand. |
| 2:04.8 | It's still a seller's market here in Cleveland. |
| 2:07.4 | If it's price right, looks good, it goes fast with multiple offers. |
| 2:11.7 | Though she does see some houses staying on the market longer. |
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