OpenAI says its future AI facilities will cut their electricity use when power grids are under strain. The company announced the plan on Monday as part of a new national effort called the Grid Protectors Program.
The program centers on one question that has followed the AI building boom: who pays for the power. OpenAI says families and small businesses should not cover the electricity costs of its facilities.
“Families and small businesses should not be asked to subsidize a compute campus’s electricity needs,” OpenAI said in its announcement.
How the Grid Protectors Program Works
Under the plan, OpenAI will work with utilities, regulators, and policymakers to set terms for each facility. These deals will cover how much power a site can stop using, how fast it can respond, and for how long.
The company said the arrangements will differ by location. It added that it will share more commitments as they are finalized.
OpenAI is also looking at on-site batteries and power generation. Depending on local needs, these tools could supply power to the grid or smooth out changes in demand.
The company compared its role to a regular customer at a restaurant in a vacation town. The restaurant must pay for its space all year, and steady customers help cover the bills when tourists leave.
OpenAI says its facilities need power year-round, which can help spread the fixed costs of power lines and substations across more electricity sales. Cutting use during peak times could also limit the need for expensive grid upgrades.
Georgia Deal Sets the First Test
OpenAI is using a planned facility in Effingham County, Georgia, as its first example. The company has signed a 25-year agreement with Georgia Power covering about 3,200 megawatts of electricity demand.
Up to 1,000 megawatts of that can be temporarily cut during periods of high demand. OpenAI says that equals the average electricity demand of roughly 700,000 households, more than Washington, D.C., and Boston combined.
Under the approved agreement, OpenAI must pay the full infrastructure and electric service costs needed to serve the site. Those costs will not be passed on to existing customers.
Georgia Power projects about $950 million in annual customer savings starting in 2029. That works out to at least $15 a month for a typical home using 1,000 kilowatt-hours.
However, those savings cover the utility’s wider group of large customers and expected growth, not just OpenAI’s project. The figures are still projections, and the Georgia facility remains under development.
OpenAI has not yet shared binding demand-reduction commitments for other sites. The company said flexibility cannot replace investment in new energy supply and transmission.
The announcement also comes as OpenAI changes how it describes these facilities. According to Axios, the company is preparing a post-midterm policy and PR campaign that includes calling data centers “AI compute campuses.”
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the naming plan to Business Insider. The spokesperson said the term better reflects the facilities’ role in computing, energy infrastructure, and skilled jobs.
Opposition to AI infrastructure has grown across the United States. Pennsylvania added new limits on large data centers in August, including rules meant to protect residents from higher power bills.
In March, OpenAI and six other major tech companies signed a White House pledge to pay for the electricity and grid upgrades their AI projects require.
Power delivery to the planned 3.2-gigawatt Georgia facility is scheduled to begin in 2028. It will expand in phases through 2032.
