India, Aug. 28 -- Do you think AI is free of cost? Artificial intelligence may be making work and life easier, but it's also quietly driving up power bills across the U.S. The massive energy needs of AI data centres, the giant servers that run tools like ChatGPT, are straining electricity grids and leaving ordinary households to pay more.

Power demand from AI

A Bloomberg analysis shows that AI data centres now consume about 4% of U.S. electricity, a share expected to rise sharply as demand for generative AI accelerates. Despite more efficient chips and software, overall energy use keeps climbing because of the scale at which AI is expanding.

Regions with heavy data centre clusters are seeing the biggest jumps. Northern Virginia, parts ...