Consumer Watchdog Group Worried About Who Would Foot the Bill if Massive Data Centers Fail

Wednesday, January 14th, 2026 -- 8:01 AM

(Beatrice Lawrence, Wisconsin Public Radio) A consumer watchdog group is worried about who would foot the bill for the massive energy projects being built to power Wisconsin data centers if tech companies pull back their investments in AI.

According to Beatrice Lawrence with the Wisconsin Public Radio, for the last few months, some analysts have been warning of an AI “bubble.”A financial bubble happens when the price of an asset, in this case, AI technology, grows far beyond its actual value.

In some cases, it’s caused by overly optimistic projections about how much the price will continue to grow. Investors get excited about its potential, leading to a “boom” and a race to invest as much as possible. But eventually, bubbles burst.

If investors worry that an asset might not be as profitable as they first thought, they begin to sell off their investments. They race to cash out before prices drop further, and in turn, those prices crash.

Whether or not the AI industry is experiencing a bubble remains to be seen. But the consequences of a potential burst are a concern for Wisconsin communities hosting data centers.

“If (tech companies) got to a point where they felt like they needed to pull back some of their investment, because the return is not going to happen as fast as they think it is, you could see that impact certain communities,” Wall Street Journal tech columnist Dan Gallagher told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

Unlike a factory, massive layoffs aren’t a concern if data centers close down or change operations, since data centers employ few people. What data centers do need from their host communities, however, is a massive amount of energy.

And Wisconsin utility companies are initiating billions of dollars worth of projects to meet that demand. Tom Content is the executive director of the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin. He told “Wisconsin Today” he’s concerned that residential customers will end up footing the bill for new energy projects.

“When you pay for a power plant, rate payers are paying for that over 40 or 60 years,” Content said. “So if AI companies’ business plans change, we need to make sure that there are sufficient guarantees and exit fees and protections in place for the rest of the citizens of Wisconsin who will still be here.”

According to reporting from Wisconsin Watch, the new energy projects risk creating more than $1 billion in stranded assets, power plants that have shut down but are still being paid for by customers.

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