Nancy Marshall-Genzer

Who's going to pay for the massive amounts of power consumed by data centers being built across the country?

The biggest concentration of data centers stretches across 13 states, including the Washington, D.C.

area, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

That power market is served by the grid operator PJM Interconnection.

The Trump administration and some of the region's governors plan to tell PJM to auction off 15-year contracts for future power generation to tech companies.

This was first reported by Bloomberg.

Bloomberg says PJM will not be at the meeting, and the administration's plan is a non-binding statement of principles.

The plan also apparently includes a request for PJM to cap prices for power auctions this year.

The consumer advocacy group Powerline says utilities asked for or received more than $34 billion worth of rate increases in the first three quarters of last year, more than double what was requested or approved over the same time frame in 2024.

I'm Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.

Economists expect the December report to show inflation still above the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target.

Economists at both Goldman Sachs and Bank of America predict inflation rose 2.7 percent year over year.

Distortions from the government shutdown are expected to affect the December CPI.

Federal agencies didn't reopen until the middle of November.

That meant government workers were out checking prices just as holiday discounts were hitting stores.

That likely led to an understating of goods inflation in November, which could make December prices artificially higher.

Assumptions made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics about shelter costs during the shutdown kept the cost of rent artificially low.

That's expected to correct itself this year.

We could also see the cost of tariffs continue to be passed on to consumers.

I'm Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.