We're taking another look now at increasing electricity prices.

A few weeks ago, we examined the impact of artificial intelligence and the data centers needed

to power it.

Now, John Yang explores new findings that break down the issue and point to other factors

behind the rising costs.

Jeff, the latest consumer price index showed that the average electric bill went up a little more

than 5% from September 2024 to September 2025. That's more than the overall rate of inflation

for the same period. The conventional wisdom is that greater demand for power from the explosive

growth of data centers is the reason.

But a new analysis by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the consulting group, Bradle,

concludes that it's not that simple.

Ryan Liddick is a principal at Brattle.

He was a member of the research team.

Ryan, it's not only not that simple, but it's a little counterintuitive because

you say the research suggests that greater demand for electricity can actually bring rates down.

How does that work? Yeah, it can. And I think, you know, the important thing to understand about

the power sector is a big portion of the cost that you're paying in your electricity bill is a fixed

cost. It's the poles and wires and power plants and substations that power companies have already

gone out and invested in. And they're recovering those costs from you based on how much you and

your neighbors and other customers are consuming, how much

electricity you're consuming.

And so if utilities can bring in a new large customer, like a data center that's going to

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