The Ratepayer Protection Pledge: Who’s signed on

In March, seven tech companies and hyperscalers signed on to President Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a voluntary agreement stating that, in the pursuit of data center growth, signatories would not shift costs to electricity customers in the form of higher electricity bills.

"Data center infrastructure is the foundation of the Internet, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, and supports our economic and national security. As that infrastructure grows and the related electricity demand increases, the American people should not be footing the bill for the benefit of private companies," the pledge reads. "Instead, the data center boom should be leveraged to address affordability and benefit all American households and businesses."

Since then, even more entities have signed on, with states, utilities, data center developers, and cooperatives pledging support. According to the White House's pledge list, the latest number includes 281 signatories and 23 states. The White House stated that the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge now covers 80% of all power delivered to U.S. homes and businesses."

Nuclear ties: The list includes several signatories associated with nuclear power generation. The initial seven signatories included Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon-tech giants that have announced partnerships with utilities through endeavors like power purchase agreements and nuclear power plant restarts.

Multiple utilities that own or operate nuclear power plants, including the following, have signed on as well:

• Ameren

• American Electric Power

• Arizona Public Service

• Dominion Energy

• DTE Energy

• Duke Energy

• Entergy

• Nebraska Public Power District

• NextEra Energy

• PG&E Corporation

• PSEG

• Southern Company

• TVA

• Xcel Energy

C suite take: Entergy Chair and CEO Drew Marsh joined President Trump, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and others at a July 23 event at the Environmental Protection Agency where the latest group of signatories was announced.

"The White House's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, [Louisiana] Governor Landry's recent executive order and our Fair Share Plus pledge are all aligned to ensure that we grow and support this transformational investment opportunity and we do it in a way that creates benefits for all customers. That's how we win the AI race and responsibly serve all our customers at the same time," Marsh said.

In a statement about the pledge, Tennessee Valley Authority president and CEO Mike Skaggs said, "We remain committed to supplying affordable, reliable power and ensuring data center costs are not passed on to the 10 million people we serve. With data center load expected to double by 2030, this pledge aligns with TVA's approach to maintaining affordability, strengthening grid reliability, and supporting responsible economic growth in our seven-state region."

State support: Eleven of the 23 states that signed on have operating commercial reactors, while other states have shown an interest in incorporating nuclear power or are in the process of reintroducing nuclear power, such as Iowa and Wyoming. All 23 governors who signed the pledge are Republicans.

The pledge signed by the states included an addendum that reads: "We the undersigned pledge to implement the principles established in the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, to the greatest extent possible in our respective positions, in order to protect American consumers from price hikes due to data center energy and infrastructure requirements, and lower electricity costs for consumers in the long term while developing the infrastructure needed to maintain America's economic and technological leadership."

Questions over pledge:Some Democrats also have responded to the pledge. When asked whether a White House pledge was sufficient to keep data center developers from shifting costs to electricity consumers on CBS News's Face the Nation on July 19, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said, "Asking these companies to keep their word on how much they're going to consume-I'm more realistic than that perhaps."

Others have weighed in on how binding the pledge is. Ari Peskoe, the Electricity Law Initiative director at Harvard University, told the New York Times that he believes the pledges are "clearly symbolic and a lot of theater. What matters is what actually happens at the utility level."