How the White House and governors want to fix AI-driven power shortages and price spikes

The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are holding an event Friday taking aim at power shortages and price spikes from data centers for artificial intelligence. It's a growing concern for voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. They're trying to pressure the operator of the mid-Atlantic power grid to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new plants. Consumer advocates say ratepayers in the grid — which stretches from New Jersey to Illinois — are paying billions of dollars in higher bills to underwrite the cost to supply power to AI data centers.