Collectively, the utilities operate across 30 states and in areas with the highest concentrations of data centers in the country. “It confirms that data centers are significantly increasing demand for electricity,” said Ari Peskoe, the director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard. And, Zhao said, there needs to be more coordination among data centers and grid operators. “Data centers are operating their data centers, and operators are trying to assess whether data centers are going to affect reliability,” he said. Data centers must go through an interconnection process, which is meant to ensure they won’t threaten the grid’s reliability.