While the Trump administration has spent 2025 slamming the brakes on U.S. expansion of renewable energy by defunding solar and wind projects, Americans have seen their electricity costs skyrocket by more than an average of 30 percent, a trend not expected to abate any time soon.
The rapid expansion of cryptocurrency mining facilities and artificial intelligence data centers throughout the United States – requiring extraordinarily high levels of energy use, taxing electrical grids and resulting in higher electrical bills for surrounding communities throughout the nation (covered extensively by ELM the past few years, including here and here) – has only exacerbated this insatiable need for energy, as well as an exponential surge in cost. So, although the Trump administration began its term in January 2025, right out of the gate, with full-throated support of these power-hungry industries (covered by ELM here), state legislatures began to retreat in their battles against proliferating data centers as the year went on (covered by ELM here). The final months of 2025 are showing signs of more conflicted support.
For instance, on Oct. 20, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed a bill, S4293, requiring data center operators to submit water and energy usage reports to the state’s Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU), sending the bill back to the legislature and asking that it add provisions directing state regulators to also study whether data centers’ power usage is unduly burdensome. More specifically, a bill drafted according to Murphy’s proposed condition would direct the NJPBU to determine whether New Jersey ratepayers “unreasonably subsidize” data centers through increased rates and funding of public infrastructure exclusively used by data centers, while also considering the economic benefits data centers might bring to the Garden State. If S4293 is modified to incorporate the governor’s “conditional veto” terms, the aforementioned usage reports would be required for filing by January 2027 rather than the original six months from when Murphy signed the bill.
Although it is uncertain whether New Jersey lawmakers will amend the bill to reflect the changes Murphy demanded, bill sponsors have expressed frustration at the two-year delay, concerned that data centers will continue to hog resources and further push up electricity prices for regular New Jersey ratepayers during that time, even indicating they might revisit the issue once Murphy leaves office in January 2026, having reached his term limit.
Given that Murphy has invested New Jersey in the pursuit of AI firms and startups, even extending them tax credits despite the industry’s effects on power use and rates, it seems likely that New Jersey lawmakers will have to revisit the issue in the new year, buoyed by the hope of a new governor less welcoming of data centers.
New Hampshire has similarly delayed a bill, but in somewhat reversed circumstances. This past April, the state’s House passed HB639, a bill referred to as “Blockchain Basic Laws,” using model legislation and input provided by crypto industry players who previously helped pass crypto legislation in other states such as Arkansas (covered by ELM here), with the primary purpose of deregulating crypto mining throughout the Granite State by precluding local officials and state agencies from banning or limiting mining operations via “discriminatory” regulations. The bill, which would prevent New Hampshire officials from imposing, among other restrictions, special electricity rates on crypto miners, would also create an exclusive judicial docket for any crypto-related legal disputes. The Blockchain Basic Laws, which stalled in the New Hampshire Senate, in committee, after passing the House, is scheduled for reconsideration October 30.
The bill’s sponsors have expressed concern about protecting crypto miners from moratoriums implemented in other states (such as New York’s, covered extensively by ELM, including here), stymieing the potentially lucrative industry’s growth. They have also dismissed the concerns of environmentalists opposed to Blockchain Basic Laws, grounded in concerns over increased carbon emissions from the data centers and an overtaxed electrical grid. As for New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte, although she has previously expressed unbridled enthusiasm for increasing crypto’s footprint in the state’s economy, she recently sounded more cautious when asked about the proposed regulations.
After acknowledging the economic appeal of welcoming the crypto industry to the state, she immediately conceded, “You have to have, obviously, guardrails in place, because we have had examples. Because it’s not regulated federally, there would have to be regulatory measures put in place to make sure that’s done responsibly, like we would with any kind of issue like this.”
The jury is still out on whether the federal government’s early-2025 support of energy-sucking tech industries will be shared by conflicted state governments as 2025 comes to a close. But one thing is certain: as the cold winds of winter approach, thermostats will rise, and so will Americans’ electrical bills.