The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that President Donald Trump wants major tech companies to contribute more to the energy costs of new data centres. A New York Times dispatch to The Globe reports that concerns are being raised that the artificial intelligence boom could lead to higher utility bills for households. Tech companies have promised to pay more for electricity, but that might be hard to verify. Concerns are growing among White House officials and Republicans about rising electricity prices potentially impacting the midterm elections. Mr. Trump said major tech companies must meet their own power needs and build their own power plants to prevent price increases. Data centres being built today can consume as much power as a small city, necessitating costly upgrades. Utilities typically spread upgrade costs among all regional customers. But politicians are increasingly calling on tech giants to foot most or all of the bill for their upgrades. In recent weeks, both Microsoft and Anthropic have publicly pledged to pay higher electricity rates to cover their costs. Many tech companies, like Meta, are building natural gas-fueled power plants for their data centers, such as the one in El Paso, Tex.