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Electricity is the biggest running cost of any data center. This calculator uses the AI Build Configurator formulas: IT load × utilisation plus cooling overhead (PUE), priced at the local rate with any large-load minimum-take floor. A 50 MW site at 88% utilisation and PUE 1.13 uses 442,380 MWh a year, about US$31.4M in Texas.
Formula: (IT MW × 8,760 h × utilisation + IT MW × (PUE − 1) × 8,760 h) × rate. Large-load minimum-take floors are applied above each state's threshold. Rates are the configurator's modelled industrial rates (Q3 2026); enter your own rate to override.
The cheapest modelled industrial rates in the configurator:
California is the target market for many of our readers, so it is worth knowing it sits at the expensive end on every axis: US$0.205/kWh modelled power, a 1.22× construction cost factor, a 48-month grid queue and no sales-tax exemption on equipment. Canadian provinces price in CAD: Manitoba C$0.055/kWh, British Columbia C$0.066 and Newfoundland and Labrador C$0.070 are the lowest.
Several utilities now bill large data centers for a minimum share of their contracted load whether they use it or not. The calculator applies these floors automatically above each threshold:
At low utilisation, a floor can raise the power bill by a third. Read the details in our Virginia, Ohio and Georgia tariff guides, or model it in the full configurator.
Multiply IT load by hours and utilisation, add cooling overhead of IT load times (PUE minus 1) times hours, then multiply the total MWh by the power rate. Apply any large-load minimum-take floor.
About 442,380 MWh a year at 88% utilisation and PUE 1.13, roughly US$31.4M in Texas and US$90.7M in California.
In the SCR AI Build Configurator, Louisiana and New Mexico at US$0.065/kWh, followed by Oklahoma (US$0.068) and Texas (US$0.071).
A tariff rule that bills large customers for a minimum share of contracted load (80% to 85% in the states modelled) even if they use less.
Yes. PUE sets the overhead: air cooling at PUE 1.40 uses about 27% more total power than direct-to-chip liquid at PUE 1.13 for the same IT load.