The Companies Quietly Running Dozens of California Data Centers What It Means for Your Bill

The Companies Quietly Running Dozens of California Data Centers
What It Means for Your Bill
When most people picture a data center, they think of big tech brands. But many of California's data centers are run by companies most homeowners have never heard of. These are colocation companies, the landlords of the data center world, and they operate dozens of facilities across the state.

Who they are
Colocation companies build data centers and rent space, power and cooling to many different tenants, from cloud providers to financial firms to streaming services. In California, the largest names include Digital Realty, with about 15 listed sites, Equinix with about 12, and CoreSite with about 11. Vantage Data Centers, Stack Infrastructure, NTT and CyrusOne also operate or are developing major facilities. Some of these sites are enormous. Vantage's CA3 facility in Santa Clara is rated at about 83 megawatts. At full power year-round, that equals roughly 90,900 homes' worth of electricity at 8,000 kilowatt-hours per home.

Where they cluster
These companies concentrate where fiber networks and power already exist. Santa Clara has the most listed data centers in California, followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and San Jose. That puts them in the service areas of PG&E, SCE, SDG&E and municipal utilities like Silicon Valley Power.

What it means for your electric bill
Every data center competes for space on the same grid your home depends on. As colocation companies expand, utilities have to add transmission lines, substations and generation to keep up. California's Public Advocates Office has warned that transmission upgrades for data centers could cost billions, and that ratepayers could be left paying if projects are withdrawn or fail to bring in expected revenue. The state has taken steps to make large customers pay their share, including a rule requiring some applicants to cover transmission work upfront. But those protections do not cover every cost, and they do not apply everywhere in the state.

Two sides of the meter
As data centers grow, every homeowner faces a choice. You can stay on the buying side of the meter and absorb rising costs, or move to the supply side by producing and storing your own electricity and sending extra power back to the grid for compensation. It is understandable if homeowners do not love the idea of supplying a grid that serves data center landlords. But producing power and earning credits is a stronger position than paying peak prices while competing with those facilities for electricity.

Moving to the supply side
Qualifying California homeowners can get solar and battery storage through third-party ownership programs without buying or financing equipment. The battery covers expensive evening hours, and California's SB 913 directs regulators to set a value for battery power sent to the grid during high demand.

The takeaway
The companies running California's data centers are planning for long-term growth. Homeowners can plan too, by locking in their own power and savings that can reach up to 40 percent compared with utility rates, depending on the home and program.

To find out if your home qualifies for a TPO solar and battery program, visit myhomesolution.org/california_public_utility_commissions