Axios Live: AI's potential effects on Utah's electricity rates a big concern

SALT LAKE CITY — Artificial intelligence's vast energy needs are putting Utah to the test when it comes to demand and utility prices.

Why it matters: The state is hoping to maintain its electricity rates, among the lowest in the U.S., despite that.

• Axios' Amy Harder spoke with Utah Division of Public Utilities director Chris Parker, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), Utah Clean Energy founder and CEO Sarah Wright, and Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson at the event, sponsored by Shell.

State of play: "There's two major things we've had to grapple with recently, and that is obviously like everyone else [in the U.S.] thinking about load growth due to AI and some of the resource constraints that make it challenging to meet that load growth in a really quick time," Parker said.

• "And we've been grappling with increased issues related to wildfires in the West and their costs to utilities."

The big picture: "I think we should all be very concerned" about electrical rate increases, Curtis said.

• "I am pleased with what I could call a little bit of a trend with AI, which is feeling like they've got to be responsible for their own energy, if that makes sense," Curtis said. "The business model of AI can support much higher prices, and so if we put our consumers on that same trajectory, that's really unsustainable for a number of people."
• AI "has really put a high demand on energy, which of course has a tendency to increase prices," Henderson said, adding the state is "doing everything we can" to protect ratepayers from a price hike.

What we're watching: Solar energy capacity continues to rise in Utah.

• When asked what the biggest change in Utah's energy landscape over the last 25 years has been, Wright said it was "opening the door to solar development, and having it scale."

Content from the sponsored segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, Shell EVP of supply chain, contracting and procurement Rick Tallant said, "There are a lot of barriers" to energy abundance.

• "The energy industry is a team sport, so everybody has to come together to make it happen," he said.
• "We need government policies, first of all, to incentivize innovation but also be predictable, so those are tax policies, regulatory policies, that's a big part of it as well."