Blog de Dunlap: I’m not having it.

Danielle,

This is a longer note about how private equity executives and AI companies are taking over our country’s electrical grid — but I hope you stay with me, because it directly impacts the utility bills you receive every month.

Since President Trump took office a year and a half ago, gas and electricity bills have risen by 11%.

And private equity — you know, guys who are gutting hospitals, nursing homes, and local malls — they're on track to make things worse.

Let me zoom out for a sec and clarify what’s going on:

Right now, our country is using much more energy than before.

And don’t let them fool you. It's not because you're keeping the AC on longer or running the dryer too much. That increase is coming from AI data centers sucking up more and more electricity.

In fact, according to the International Energy Agency, data center electricity demand worldwide will more than DOUBLE by 2029.

And as always, Wall Street smells money.

Data centers need a tremendous amount of energy to go online. So much energy that our grid isn't ready. As AI scales up, it will require upgrades to our electrical grid — really expensive upgrades.

So private equity companies are now trying to buy up all the utility companies that will be responsible for making those upgrades.

And we know how damaging the private equity playbook can be to the industries they take over: They cut staff, make services worse, and jack up prices for consumers.

So basically, AI data centers and private equity interests will both be cashing in by taking over our public utility system, making your services worse, sucking up profits for themselves, and passing cost increases onto consumers.

And here's the real kicker, Danielle: Utility companies are legally allowed to operate as monopolies.

So no matter how bad it gets, you're probably stuck with your utility company. If they come in and raise your rates, you gotta pay it. If private equity mismanages your utility company, you gotta deal with it.

I’m not having it.

I’ve already called for Big Tech companies to pay their fair share for the electrical grid updates made specifically to accommodate their data centers’ energy needs. And I’ve opened up oversight investigations into Blackrock and Blackstone in response to their utility company acquisitions.

All of us need to stand up to this corporate takeover. Add your name if you’re with me: Private equity executives should NOT be able to profit off of public goods like our utilities. Let’s demonstrate that there’s strong, public pushback to their greed.

ADD MY NAME

Thanks for being part of this,

Elizabeth