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One-time enrollment · 12-month access
Enroll NowGroup pricing available →Data centers are changing how much power utilities must supply and who pays for it. This course covers the demand surge, the grid investment behind it, how utilities use AI as a tool, and the questions to ask before you vote, with no accounting background needed.
This course explains how artificial intelligence is changing electricity demand, grid investment, and utility operations, and what governing bodies should ask in response. It is written for board members, council members, commissioners, attorneys, and regulatory staff who do not have an accounting background.
You learn how much power AI uses and why forecasts are so uncertain, how one data center campus triggers a chain of grid investment, and who ends up paying for it. You also see how utilities use AI in their own operations, which applications are mature, and what to ask before approving an AI investment.
You finish by separating AI hype from utility reality, with a set of questions for commissioners, cooperative boards, and municipal councils.
Describe the scale of AI-driven electricity demand, why its forecasts are so uncertain, and where the load is concentrating, including the effect on rural cooperatives and municipal utilities.
How much electricity AI uses, why forecasts are so uncertain, where the load is landing, and why stranded infrastructure is the risk to watch.
The chain of investment one AI campus triggers, why AI needs firm 24/7 power, and the four scenarios a governing body must evaluate.
How utilities use AI to run their own systems, which applications are mature, and the questions to ask before approving an AI investment.
Who pays for AI-driven infrastructure, four rate approaches for large loads, the rate adequacy test, and the policy landscape.
What is real and what is overstated, and the questions for commissioners, cooperative boards, and municipal councils.
