Who Pays for AI’s Power? Duke’s Data-Centre Deal, Google in Indiana and the Rush to On-Site Gas

The question hanging over AI data centres is no longer only whether there is enough power. It is who pays for the wires and power plants they need, and what happens if a project shrinks or leaves. Two US decisions and a Senate bill this week give concrete answers, while equipment makers ship generators straight to AI sites.

• North Carolina: Duke Energy, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others filed a settlement on 6 October setting rules for very large customers. Regulators still have to approve it (confirmed filing) [1].
• Indiana: regulators approved a plan under which Google pays the full cost of serving a 390 MW data centre (confirmed) [2].
• Washington: a bipartisan Senate bill would speed up approvals for power projects and make data centres pay for the grid costs they cause (bill confirmed; details reported) [7][8].
• On-site power: Doosan shipped its first gas turbine to the US, for SpaceXAI, and Wärtsilä won a 282 MW order for engines at a US data centre (confirmed) [3][4][5][6].

Nothing here is investment advice.

What did Duke and the tech companies agree?

The settlement, filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, proposes a “Large Load Tariff” for both Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress [1]. Signatories include the commission’s Public Staff (the state’s consumer advocate), Amazon Data Services, Google, Microsoft, industrial customers and the US Department of Defense [1].

It covers new contracts signed on or after 1 June 2026 by customers using at least 50 MW at a steady high load, or 150 MW at any load. Existing customers are not affected unless they add that much new demand [1]. The main terms [1]:

• Pay upfront. The customer pays the estimated cost of facilities built just for it in advance, and backs the cost of wider grid upgrades with a letter of credit.
• Long contracts. At least 10 years for sites under 100 MW, and 15 years for larger ones (longer if the ramp-up takes time).
• Pay for most of what you book. Demand charges are billed on at least 75% of contracted demand, even if the site uses less.
• Notice and exit fees. Leaving early or cutting demand requires 24 to 48 months’ notice, depending on size, plus damages.
• Accept some interruptions. During ramp-up and one year after, the customer must agree to cuts of either 95% of its load for up to 50 hours a year, or 50% for up to 100 hours, capped at six hours a day and unpaid, or another approved option.

The tariff would apply to service from 1 January 2027 [1]. The commission keeps full authority to accept or reject it, and the deal binds no one unless accepted in full [1]. Duke would also report within a year on ways to charge individual customers for shared grid upgrades they trigger [1].

Together, these terms put the cost of a cancelled or shrunken project on the customer, through upfront payments, minimum bills and exit fees, rather than on everyone else.

What did Indiana approve?

On 7 October the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved AES Indiana’s plan to power Google’s planned 390 MW data centre near Monrovia, in Morgan County [2]. AES estimates the total cost, including transmission upgrades, at about $1.3 billion [2].

Indiana law requires large new loads to cover at least 80% of the cost of serving them; Commissioner Joby Jerrells noted that Google is covering 100% [2]. AES says other customers could save $770 million over 15 years if Google uses its full 390 MW, about $47 a year for an average household [2]. That is the utility’s projection.

What would the Senate bill change?

Congress may make such terms national. Senator Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, unveiled the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act on 30 September [7]. It would speed up federal approval of power plants and transmission lines, with deadlines for environmental reviews, and would force data centres “to fully pay for their grid upgrades, as well as their share of the existing grid”, Heinrich says [7].

Axios, which has examined the data-centre provisions, reports that new data centres of at least 20 MW would have to bear the extra costs they impose across the power system, from generation to local wires. They would stay liable for those costs even if they stopped buying power early, and utilities would need financial guarantees before building for them [8]. States would be free to go further [8]. The Data Center Coalition says it is still reviewing the bill; one anonymous tech industry official said some provisions amount to an “unprecedented level of discriminatory treatment” for a single industry [8].

Heinrich wants to bring the bill to the Senate floor “later in November” [7]. It has not passed either chamber.

Why are generators going straight to data centres?

Waiting for the grid takes years, so some projects bring their own power.

On 6 October Doosan Enerbility held a ceremony in Changwon, South Korea, to ship a DGT6-300H gas turbine to SpaceXAI, which Yonhap describes as the AI arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX [3]. It is Doosan’s first gas turbine shipment to the US, for an energy project SpaceXAI is building there [3]. Doosan’s materials, reported by Korean outlets, put the turbine at 380 MW; Yonhap’s report gives no figure [3][4][5]. Seoul Economic Daily adds that Doosan has contracts for 12 turbines with US companies; that five are for SpaceXAI is an industry estimate [4].

On 5 October Wärtsilä said it will supply 15 gas engines totalling 282 MW for a US data centre developed by an unnamed “major US independent power producer” [6]. Delivery is due in 2028, with full operation in 2029. It is Wärtsilä’s seventh US data-centre order, taking its sales for US data-centre use above 3 GW [6].

The queue problem is not only American. A report by the insurer FM puts Britain’s grid connection queue at 738 GW, about four times the capacity needed for the Clean Power 2030 target set out by the National Energy System Operator (NESO), with more than 50 GW requested for data centres (reported) [9].

What links these stories?

Pressure on bills is shaping the rules. On 6 October Raleigh, Oakland and San Joaquin County paused new data-centre approvals, citing electricity costs among other concerns. North Carolina and Indiana take a different route: let projects proceed, but make the companies carry the cost and risk.

Update, 9 October 2026

Two developments on 7–8 October add to the questions above: one company is trucking gas to sites the pipelines have not yet reached, and the US energy department has weighed in on who should pay for new power in the largest US grid region.

Oracle is trucking gas to data centres (reported). Bloomberg reported on 8 October, citing people familiar with the matter, that Oracle is using natural gas delivered by truck to keep data-centre projects moving while pipelines are delayed [10][11]. According to the reports, road deliveries kept a site outside Salt Lake City running for more than a year while a pipeline was built, and are powering early work at an OpenAI campus in Shackelford County, Texas [11]. Oracle is considering the same approach at Project Jupiter in New Mexico, where, The Next Web says, the pipeline’s start date slipped to February [10][11].

The industry calls this a “virtual pipeline”: gas is drawn from a real pipeline, compressed into a trailer, driven to site and decompressed. The Next Web, summarising Bloomberg, names Certarus as the Utah supplier and VoltaGrid as the Texas one [11]. It is expensive. East Daley Analytics told Bloomberg that delivered gas runs about four times the price of gas at a major hub once labour, equipment and the trucks’ own fuel are counted (an analyst’s estimate) [11]. Bloomberg also reported that last month Oracle sent a notice citing force majeure to the New Mexico project’s developer, which may shield it from some payments if there are further delays [10]. Oracle did not reply to Bloomberg’s request for comment, according to The Next Web [11].

The US Department of Energy presses PJM (confirmed filing). On 7 October DOE filed a “statement of position” with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) about PJM, the grid operator covering 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states and Washington DC [12]. DOE said: “PJM should implement the cost allocation and other reforms identified by the Commission to ensure that the costs of serving new data centers or other large electric energy loads are not unfairly shifted to PJM’s existing ratepayers” [12]. Utility Dive says it appears to be the first such statement DOE has filed at FERC in at least five years [12].

The background: PJM plans an emergency “backstop” purchase of new power capacity, aiming for 6.8 GW to cover a shortfall for the 2028/29 delivery year, according to a PJM fact sheet cited by Utility Dive [12]. FERC paused it last month, saying parts of the plan, including how costs are shared, may be unjust and unreasonable [12]. DOE backed FERC and said costs should follow updated, project-level load forecasts, so that the bill goes to “the customers responsible for those investments” [12]. A PJM spokesman, Jeffrey Shields, told Utility Dive that PJM intends to file a revised proposal by 29 October and will hold a special Members Committee meeting on 22 October [12].

What this does not prove

• That North Carolina’s rules will take effect. The settlement needs the commission’s approval [1].
• That Indiana bills will fall. The $770 million saving is AES’s projection and depends on Google using its full capacity [2].
• The Doosan figure from an independent source. 380 MW comes from Doosan’s own statements as reported in Korea [4][5].
• Where the new gas plants will run. Neither SpaceXAI’s site nor Wärtsilä’s customer is named [3][6].
• That the Senate bill will become law. It has been introduced, not passed, and the data-centre details here come from Axios’s reading [7][8].
• How widely Oracle uses trucked gas, or what it costs Oracle. The details come from unnamed people via Bloomberg, and the “about four times” figure is East Daley Analytics’ estimate, not Oracle’s [10][11].
• That PJM households are protected. DOE’s statement is a position in a FERC proceeding; PJM has not yet filed its revised plan and FERC has not ruled [12].

The Bottom Line

The deals taking shape put more of the bill on the data-centre owner: pay upfront, sign for 10 to 15 years, pay for most of what you book, and accept cuts when the grid is tight [1]. Indiana has approved Google paying the full cost of its site [2], and a bipartisan Senate bill would write similar rules into federal law [7][8]. Meanwhile gas turbines and engines are going straight to AI projects [3][6]. Whether households are actually protected will show up in bills over years, not in this week’s filings.

The 9 October news sharpens both halves of the story. Where pipelines lag, Oracle is reportedly paying a premium to truck gas in rather than wait [10][11]. And in PJM, the US energy department has told the regulator that new data centres, not existing customers, should carry the cost of the power bought for them [12]. Whether that principle survives PJM’s filing due by 29 October is the next thing to watch.

Related on TSN: Black Hills’ $1.8bn gas build for Google’s Cheyenne data centre · Fewer Secrets, More Promises: Amazon’s Answer to the Data Center Backlash

Sources

1. Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress et al., “Agreement and Stipulation of Settlement on Large Load Tariff,” NCUC Docket Nos. E-7, Sub 1329 and E-2, Sub 1380, filed 6 October 2026 (copy hosted by the Southern Environmental Law Center). https://www.selc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-10-06-Duke-Energy-LLT-Settlement.pdf
2. Daniel Bradley, “IURC approves AES plan to power Google data center in Morgan County,” Inside Indiana Business, 7 October 2026. https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/articles/iurc-approves-aes-plan-to-power-google-data-center-in-morgan-county
3. Kim Eun-jung, “Doosan Enerbility ships 1st gas turbine to U.S. for SpaceXAI,” Yonhap News Agency, 6 October 2026. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20261006006200320
4. “Doosan Enerbility Ships First Gas Turbine to U.S. for SpaceXAI,” Seoul Economic Daily, 6 October 2026. https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/10/06/doosan-enerbility-ships-first-gas-turbine-to-us-for-spacexai
5. Ko Eun-gyeol, “Doosan Enerbility exports 380 MW gas turbine to US AI firm SpaceXAI,” The Herald Business, 6 October 2026. https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10894281
6. Wärtsilä, “Wärtsilä to supply 282 MW onsite power solution for a U.S. data center as AI growth intensifies demand for reliable power,” press release, 5 October 2026. https://www.wartsila.com/media/news/05-10-2026-wartsila-to-supply-282-mw-onsite-power-solution-for-a-u-s-data-center-as-ai-growth-intensifies-demand-for-reliable-power-3797450
7. Office of Senator Martin Heinrich, “Heinrich Unveils Landmark Bipartisan Legislation to Lower Costs, Create Jobs, and Force Data Centers to Fully Pay for Costs They Incur,” press release, published 2 October 2026 (press conference 30 September). https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/heinrich-unveils-landmark-bipartisan-legislation-to-lower-costs-create-jobs-and-force-data-centers-to-fully-pay-for-costs-they-incur
8. Amy Harder, “Data centers face a sweeping new power regime,” Axios, 8 October 2026. https://www.axios.com/2026/10/08/data-centers-power-regime
9. Skye Morley, “UK grid queue is four times bigger than clean power target,” Energy Live News, 8 October 2026 (on a report by FM). https://www.energylivenews.com/2026/10/08/uk-grid-queue-is-four-times-bigger-than-clean-power-target/
10. TheFly, “Oracle trucks in gas to avoid data center delays, Bloomberg reports”, Markets Insider, 8 October 2026 (summary of Bloomberg’s report by Brody Ford and Julian Hast, citing people familiar with the matter; Bloomberg original paywalled and not read). https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/oracle-trucks-in-gas-to-avoid-data-center-delays-bloomberg-reports-1036610768
11. Alina Maria Stan, “Oracle moves gas by trucks to keep its AI data centres on schedule”, The Next Web, 8 October 2026, 18:18 BST (on Bloomberg’s report; source of the site details, supplier names, the February pipeline date and the East Daley Analytics estimate). https://thenextweb.com/news/oracle-trucked-gas-data-centres-europe
12. Ethan Howland, “DOE presses PJM on ratepayer protections from large load costs”, Utility Dive, 8 October 2026, updated with PJM’s comments (quotes DOE’s statement of position filed at FERC on 7 October; the filing itself was not opened by TSN). https://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-pjm-ferc-ratepayer-protection-large-load-data-center/832479/

Source note: The Duke settlement was read in full from the filed PDF (25 pages, including the draft tariff and an illustrative exit-fee table). The 380 MW turbine rating is not in Yonhap’s report (the brief’s primary link); it comes from Doosan’s statements as carried by Seoul Economic Daily and The Herald Business. The 20 MW threshold and other data-centre details of the Senate bill are from Axios; Heinrich’s release confirms the bill and its transmission-cost provisions but not the 20 MW figure. The bill’s bipartisan co-sponsors are not named in the sources read. The FM report itself was not read; the UK figures are as reported by Energy Live News.