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Energy News

How to protect consumers from the energy demands of data centers

Across the country, news stories are capturing the concerns of utility customers who fear that new data centers will strain electric resources and drive up prices in their communities.

This story is playing out in all states, particularly states with vertically integrated electric markets –– states where utilities monopolize and control electricity for consumers. But the tone and response of powering a data center in one state is different –– and so are the state’s regulations.

In 2024, Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced a 20 year power-purchase agreement (PPA). This is a direct agreement between the customer (Microsoft) and the power generator (Constellation Energy) to restart the Three Mile Island (TMI) Unit 1 power plant as the Crane Clean Energy Center and produce more than 800 megawatts of carbon-free electricity to power Microsoft data centers.

The agreement has been celebrated by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, state and local officials, building trades and community members excited to welcome back jobs and the subsequent economic development, including tax revenue.

Because of this PPA with a competitive energy producer and supplier, Pennsylvania residents are protected from the many risks that can come with serving a large energy user, including financial and energy reliability risks. This kind of agreement gives residents security.

Creating change with competition

Pennsylvania restructured its energy market in 1996, ending the monopoly utilities once held over electricity. Lawmakers opened the door to competition, giving Pennsylvanians the ability to choose their energy supplier and inviting private companies to invest, innovate, and sell power directly to consumers.

Nearly three decades later, many states still have customers held captive to utility monopolies, with no energy alternatives for households or large businesses. But in Pennsylvania, competition has delivered what it promised: real options for consumers and the benefits that come with them.

Choice has become a defining feature of daily life in the past 30 years. In the early 1990s, Jeff Bezos was selling books out of his garage. Today, more than 300 million people shop on Amazon each month, expecting endless options, competitive prices, and constant innovation.

Yet when it comes to electricity, only about 25% of customers nationwide have the same kind of freedom to choose.

Shielding residents from costly risks

Many Americans don’t have the ability to switch electricity providers if they’re unhappy with their utility’s prices or products. Instead, they’re captive to monopoly utilities that set the rates, control the supply, and pass along the financial risks of building new power plants. In some cases, those same rates are even paying for the lobbying efforts to prevent giving customers more choices.

Most utilities are investor-owned (IOUs), which means they’re for profit companies accountable to shareholders. Their profits come from ratepayers. If an IOU wants to build a new plant — whether to serve growing demand or to power massive users like data centers —it estimates the cost and passes the bill directly to customers. If new generation isn’t built, reliability suffers and utilities must buy power on the market at premium prices –– that cost also flows to ratepayers. Either way, customers bear the risk.

Competition changes that equation

In Pennsylvania, restructuring ensures that private companies, not consumers, shoulder the financial risk of new power projects. When Microsoft partnered with Constellation to source power from Pennsylvania’s nuclear fleet, Constellation took on the $1.6 billion cost to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1. Microsoft is paying for the costs of that electricity — not Pennsylvania ratepayers.

Competition signals for energy companies with private funds to enter a state to build new power generation –– costs that are not placed on the backs of ratepayers. With a restructured energy market, all customer classes can enroll with a supplier of their choice to buy their energy –– or remain with their utility. If they are a large enough energy user, they can secure their own PPA, similar to Microsoft contracting directly with Constellation to secure enough power for its data centers.

As other states weigh how to attract large employers without driving up rates or jeopardizing reliability, Pennsylvania offers a model. Competition made it possible for economic development and consumer protection to coexist—without asking residents to pay the price.

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Energy News

New Analysis: Retail Electric Supply Rates Offered Massachusetts Customers Up to 14% in Savings on Electric Bills in October

Consumer Savings Still Available After Eversource and National Grid Hiked Rates

BOSTON –– The average lowest price for electricity offered by competitive electric suppliers in October matched the average lowest price in October 2024. Competitive electric suppliers have offered electric plans priced well below the average utility rate in 2025, including September when the average price reached its lowest point in the past 12 months. This positive news for consumers comes after significant rate increases were imposed by Massachusetts’ major electric utility companies. Bay Staters who have shopped for electricity with a competitive electric supplier continue to benefit from saving money on their electric bill.

According to a new October rate summary analysis by My Energy Choice, retail electric suppliers had 142 fixed-rate offers available this month that were less than the utility company rates for Massachusetts customers to enroll in. The lowest retail offers available for customers ranged up to 2.27¢ per kiloWatt hour (kWh) cheaper than the utility rate.

Eversource customers in the BECO, CAMB and COMM service territories could save up to 12% on the supply portion of their bill, while National Grid customers in the MECO territory could save up to 14%. Those saving percentages would equate to about $18 to $22 a month for a customer that uses 1,000 kWh per month.

Collectively, Massachusetts residents could save as much as $16,967,282 this month by enrolling with a retail supplier.

Customers who prioritize green energy can also find offers for less than utility rates. The statewide average price for green offers (exceeding the state’s minimum clean energy requirement) in October was still 3% less than the statewide average utility rate.

A total of 243 competitive electric supply offers were available as of October 15. Customers had 104 100% renewable energy offers to choose from.

This monthly rate summary analysis can be found here. Massachusetts residents can review offers from competitive energy suppliers using the state shopping website EnergySwitchMA.gov. View a guide to shopping here.

Data for this analysis is sourced from Massachusetts’ state-managed energy shopping website, EnergySwitchMA.gov.

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Energy News

From Earth’s Core to Your Front Door: 65 Years of The Geysers

In northwestern California, miles below the crust of the Earth, there is a natural and clean energy source that can be converted into enough electricity to power 725,000 homes. That energy source is steam.

About a quarter million years ago steam began erupting from a hot water geothermal reservoir deep within the Mayacamas Mountain Range. Tens of thousands of years prior, a 1400-degree Fahrenheit plume of molten magma shot upward toward the Earth’s surface. Maintaining high temperatures, that magma boiled water as it seeped through fractures in the rock. Now, thousands of years later, that geothermal resource is the primary component of the single largest geothermal electrical operation in the world, called The Geysers. 

For 65 years, The Geysers, now owned and operated by Calpine Corporation, has been generating renewable power using steam heated by the Earth’s core.

For nearly the first 40 years of power generation at The Geysers, the local investor-owned utility managed operations, producing 11 megawatts of electricity at the start. By the time the ’90s rolled around, steam production began to decline due to overuse and a lack of water supply replenishing the reservoir. Sustaining operations required significant investment –– a challenge for the utility, which was shifting its focus more toward the transmission and distribution of electricity.

At the same time, California was restructuring its energy market, opening a door for independent power generators, like Calpine, to purchase generation assets from utility companies and operate them.

This shift in ownership marked a turning point. With The Geysers offering great potential, Calpine stepped in with much-needed upgrades –– funded by private capital, not ratepayer dollars.

Calpine brought an innovative approach to help restore the steam output needed to increase power generation. By partnering with neighboring municipalities, Calpine constructed pipelines to transport treated wastewater to The Geyers to replenish the reservoir and increase steam pressure. 

After many upgrades to the power plants and adding new resources of water to help produce steam, The Geysers’ power generation has stabilized with a current net generating capacity of about 725 megawatts of electricity, supplying around-the-clock energy to Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino counties, as well as parts of Marin and Napa.

Today, Calpine operates 13 geothermal power plants at The Geysers. The site remains the largest geothermal operation in the world and is now being celebrated for its 65th anniversary of supplying energy to California residents.

The Geysers demonstrate the power of competitive markets in action. Introducing competition into a state’s energy market allows for new investments and innovative ideas, without burdening otherwise captive ratepayers. 

From its beginnings to its status today as the world’s largest geothermal facility, Calpine’s stewardship of The Geysers proves how competitive retail markets and independent generation investment can deliver lasting value for both consumers and their communities.