White House and Governors Pressure Grid Operator to Boost Power, Slow Electricity Hikes

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2026 (AP) — The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors on Friday tried to step up pressure on the operator of the nation's largest electric grid to take urgent steps to boost power supplies and keep electricity bills from rising even higher.

Administration officials said doing so is essential to win the artificial intelligence race against China, even as voters raise concerns about the enormous amount of power data centers use and analysts warn of the growing possibility of blackouts in the mid-Atlantic grid in the coming years.

“We know that with the demands of AI and the power and the productivity that comes with that, it’s going to transform every job and every company and every industry,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told reporters at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House. “But we need to be able to power that in the race that we are in against China.”

Trump administration says it has ‘the answer’