An 8% increase y/o/y is quite substantial, however keep in mind globally we experienced the 2022 fuel shock. In Australia for example we saw energy prices double that year.

Although wholesale electricity prices show double-digit average year-on-year swings, their true long-run growth is closer to ~6% per year, slightly above wages at ~4% during the same period.

So power has become somewhat less affordable, but still remains a small share of household income. In other words, wage growth has absorbed much of the real impact, and power prices are still a fraction of household income.

You can make it sound shocking with statements like “In 1999, a household’s wholesale power cost was about $150 a year, in 2022, that same household would be charged more than $1,000, even as wages only grew 2.5x”, but the real impact (on average, obviously there are outliers and low income households are disproportionately impacted in areas where gov doesn’t subsidise) isn’t major.

https://www.aer.gov.au/industry/registers/charts/annual-volu...

I wouldn’t call a $100-270 electric bill a “fraction” when it’s about 5% post tax income. I use a single light on a timer and have a small apartment

Especially since these sorts of corporations can get tax breaks or har means of getting regulators to allow spreading the cost. Residential shouldn’t see any increase due to data centers, but they do, and will, supplement them while seeing minimal changes to infrastructure

When people are being told to minimize air conditioning but then these big datacenters are made and aren’t told “reduce your consumption” then it doesn’t matter how big or small the electric bill is, it’s supplementing a multi billion dollar corporation’s toy

6% YoY is much higher than the 2-3% inflation target

So a 6.6x increase in power bill, offset by a 2.5x wage increase has no major impact?

I'm sure none of the other outgoings for a household saw similar increases. /s