Utilities in the Southeast are planning a massive gas buildout and using Big Tech’s data center scramble as justification. I’ve spent five and a half years representing environmental nonprofits before state utility commissions — first in South Carolina, and now in Virginia. I still believe that tech companies can course correct the utilities’ plans and save the clean energy transition that data centers are threatening.
For anyone who hasn’t been immersed in energy regulation for the past several years, “state utility commissions” are regulatory bodies that oversee most utility actions, from electric rate increases to decisions to build new power generation. My advocacy in these critical regulatory proceedings has focused on a clean energy transition, one that prioritizes a reliable grid, ratepayer protections, and a shift from the polluting fossil fuel infrastructure of the past toward forward-thinking, non-emitting, non-fuel-dependent solutions like solar and storage.
This advocacy is uniquely challenging in the Southeast. The region is dominated by investor-owned utilities like Duke, Dominion and Southern that have made their fortunes — and continue to profit from — fossil fuel plants and infrastructure, both old and increasingly new. And even when the cost- and risk-reduction benefits of clean energy alternatives are well-documented, regulators (especially those in red states) tend to be skeptical when environmental organizations and clean energy businesses are the only messengers. This was the case even before the data center explosion took over energy planning, and back when the Inflation Reduction Act made the economics of a transition away from fossil fuel doubly appealing.
Big Tech — when it began showing up regularly before state utility commissions in 2022— seemed like it could shake up these dynamics.
I remember thinking to myself that environmental groups were gaining a powerful ally when a coalition of Apple, Meta, and Google showed up in North Carolina, urging Duke Energy to “de-risk” its proposal by avoiding new gas resources. Likewise, when Google got involved in a South Carolina proceeding opposing new gas plans, pushing for battery storage, and underscoring that “carbon-free, reliable energy is now a key priority for many businesses,” I thought commissioners would finally embrace the economic case for clean energy. This new tech voice felt undeniable.
And it wasn’t just that the tech companies could provide a valuable business voice in favor of clean energy. I also felt optimistic that the scale of tech companies could upend some of the utilities’ institutional influence in commission proceedings. Consider that Duke Energy has dominated North Carolina politics for a century and is responsible for keeping the lights on; and it’s worth $100.22 billion. It’s capable of dwarfing any of the typical participants that go against it — especially small community groups and nonprofits. But of the three tech companies that appeared in the Duke proceeding mentioned above, Google is worth $3.52 trillion, Meta $1.52T, and Amazon $2.28T.
Environmental nonprofits are used to going up against Goliath-sized opponents. Just imagine what we could accomplish with several, even larger Goliath-sized allies beating the same drum for clean energy and less gas. Maybe this alliance could invigorate — even win — the fight for clean energy in a region that had been, thus far, tied to the energy of our past.
Today, in 2026, these confessions sound naïve and, admittedly, overly optimistic. Rather than bring positive change to utility commission proceedings, tech’s arrival is poised to undermine the very clean energy transition these companies could accelerate. Across the Southeast, utilities are putting forward plans to serve growing electricity demand—growth driven primarily by Big Tech and other data center companies — with roughly 45,000 megawatts of new gas plants by 2040 (equal to roughly 45 large gas plants across just six states).
Instead of providing a reliable, consistent voice for clean energy, Big Tech has mostly stood by silently as utilities wield data center demand to justify not only new gas plants and pipelines but even continued reliance on coal. In contrast, when their own financial interests are at stake, tech companies are more than willing to speak up. In recent cases before utility commissions, Big Tech has forcefully opposed new rate designs intended to protect other customers from the risks associated with data center growth. These recent actions (or lack thereof) call these companies purported clean energy commitments into question. In fact, some tech leaders have explicitly abandoned those commitments.
Some tech companies, to be fair, are pioneering solutions to serve new data centers with clean energy. Google has partnered with utilities to demonstrate data center demand flexibility, develop cost arrangements to support emerging clean technologies, and most recently designed a 100% clean energy portfolio with the Xcel utility or its new data center in Minnesota. These projects, which demonstrate the capabilities and benefits of clean energy solutions, are important. Google’s new plan with Xcel will generate power for its new data center sooner than a new gas plant could and will improve the resiliency of the grid for all of the utility’s customers.
But consider also that while these one-off arrangements are negotiated, utilities are securing commission approval to pursue massive new gas builds to serve data center growth. Big Tech, for the most part, has not vocalized opposition to these gas-centric plans. For example, in Dominion Energy Virginia’s last resource planning proceeding, Google, Amazon and Microsoft intervened, but not one company objected to Dominion’s proposal to add 6GW of gas by 2036. Microsoft recommended approval. These planned gas builds are poised to overwhelm the benefits from innovative projects that some tech companies are publicizing. And the build out is materializing at an alarming pace.
These utility plans will bring higher energy bills, harmful air pollution and an increasing climate crisis. It’s past time for tech leaders to take responsibility for how their presence has shaped utility plans. But it’s also not too late for them to seize the — still present — opportunity to speak up for clean energy, to push the utilities to reverse course, and to improve the grid for everyone.
Emma Clancy is a staff attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center.
