Data centers are spiking electrical prices, harming farms like mine | Opinion

In the past five years, irrigators have been hit with unprecedented rate hikes, the combined effects of which are staggering. This year, it will cost 45% more for my family to irrigate our crops than it did in 2021. That’s an increase of about $73,000 — a tremendous expense for a farm like ours to absorb.

Since 2021, Idaho Power has increased energy rates for irrigators by 17% and demand charges by an unbelievable 138%. That first component — energy rates — is pretty straightforward: farmers pay a fixed rate (currently 6.7¢) for every kilowatt-hour of electricity we use. Homeowners are probably less familiar with demand charges, which function much like a subscription fee. Each month from June through September, irrigators pay a fee based on our highest usage at any given point during the month.

Here’s how that works. If I have a 150-horsepower pump, that pump draws about 112 kilowatts of power. In 2021, Idaho Power charged farmers $6.94 per kW, so if I turned this pump on at any time during, say, the month of June, I got hit with a $777 charge on my power bill, in addition to the volumetric (per-kWh) charge. In 2026, Idaho Power will charge farmers $16.50 per kW, which means that, to use that same pump, I’ll pay $1,840 per month.

So what’s driving these huge rate increases? We can’t just blame inflation, which, at 19%, is nowhere near the 45% increase we saw over the same timeframe. The real driver, according to Idaho Power, is increased demand and the investments in generation and transmission infrastructure that that additional demand necessitates.

But where is that new demand coming from? To be sure, the state has seen plenty of residential growth over the past decade, but the primary source of new demand is from “new large loads,” single customers or enterprises who are expected to consume staggering amounts of electricity. Take, for example, the 620-acre Gemstone Technology Park data center in Kuna. This project is expected to require a massive 600 to 800 megawatts of power, equal to about 20% of Idaho Power’s current generation capacity. Gemstone is expected to consume as much electricity as about 600,000 homes — three times the number of homes in Ada County.

And Gemstone’s not the only one. Meta is currently building a data center on 485 acres in the same area. They have not disclosed how much power their facility will require, but if it’s proportional to the Gemstone Technology Park, it will require something like 400 to 600 MW. Micron’s two semiconductor fabrication plants are expected to need up to 1,000 MW (enough power for 700,000 to 1 million homes). Combined, these three new large loads would require between one-half and two-thirds of Idaho Power’s existing generation capacity. Put another way, Idaho Power will have to increase their capacity by 50% to 75% to service these new loads.

Last year, legislators introduced a bill that would have required new customers who need more than 10 MW of power to cover the entire cost of new infrastructure, ensuring those costs wouldn’t be shifted to existing ratepayers who aren’t driving them. That bill passed the House 62 to 8 but died in the Senate State Affairs Committee. This year, legislators are working to introduce a similar bill that would apply to new customers who require more than 35 MW of power.

Such legislation is sorely needed. At its heart, this is a matter of fairness. Idaho’s farmers and small business owners can’t afford, and shouldn’t be expected, to shoulder costs that they’re not driving. Unless legislators act now, the trend we’ve seen over the last five years will continue into the next two decades and beyond, squeezing more out of family farms and other multi-generational Idaho businesses.

Adam Young is a third-generation barley, wheat and alfalfa grower. His family operates 2,600 acres of irrigated farmland in Bingham County.