https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/henrico-county-37-data-centers-182949513.html

Somewhere in Henrico County, Virginia, a teacher is being asked to shut down a computer at night so the county can shave a few bucks off its electric bill. Meanwhile, 37 data centers hum along across roughly 2,700 acres of county land, each one drinking power at a scale that makes your home energy use look like a nightlight — a demand surge accelerated by projects like the Stargate Project. On June 26, County Manager John Vithoulkas emailed thousands of employees — including school staff — with the news: electricity rates jump 25% on July 1, adding about $5 million in annual costs. His fix? "Collectively make slight adjustments."

The Math Nobody Did Out Loud

Data centers now drive the majority of wholesale electricity price increases in the region — and your bill reflects it.

A single hyperscale data center can consume over 100 megawatts — comparable to the usage of tens of thousands of homes. Virginia hosts the world's largest concentration of these facilities, and PJM's independent market monitor found data centers drove 63% of last year's capacity price increases across the regional grid. That cost doesn't stay abstract. It lands on every ratepayer in the territory — a pattern familiar to those who've followed tech scandals where costs are quietly shifted onto ordinary people.

Vithoulkas's conservation email reads like a personal-finance app notification applied to a municipal budget crisis. Employees are advised to:

Turn off lights

Adjust blinds

Skip the space heater — each one costs the county $150 to $300 per year in electricity

"Each dollar we can save by conserving electricity is another dollar the county can reinvest into staff and the services we provide our residents," he wrote.