Regional electricity price charts with commodity overlays and AI milestone annotations.
This chart shows the portion of electricity price variation not explained by natural gas prices, demand levels, and generation mix. If DC capacity independently affects prices, regions with more datacenter capacity should show positive residuals. The partial R² measures how much additional price variation DC capacity explains beyond fuel and demand factors.
In 4 of 10 cases, gas prices moved in the same direction as electricity prices — the apparent DC effect may be confounded by fuel cost changes. Correlation does not imply causation. Electricity prices are influenced by many factors including fuel costs, weather, grid congestion, regulatory changes, and seasonal demand patterns.
DC load estimated at 85% of nameplate capacity (high-utilization facilities). Regions where DCs account for a large share of load growth are more likely to see price pressure from datacenter demand, independent of fuel cost changes.