Oddly, Alberta media seem to have had very little to say about the new analysis by the Pembina Institute that the $13-billion Artificial Intelligence data centre planned by Meta Platforms Inc. in Sturgeon County could add from $270 to $460 a year to Albertans’ electricity bills once the hyperscale installation has powered up.
“At the heart of significant electricity market pressures, and the resulting bill increases, are Alberta’s ‘Bring Your Own Generation’ rules, which allow data centres to connect to the grid before their generation is brought online,” the Calgary-based organization said of its analysis in a news release Wednesday.
While the analysis by the institute confirms the provincial government’s claim that Albertans may see a 6-per-cent reduction in the transmission portion of their electricity bills because of Meta’s connection to the provincial grid, “the market impacts of the new Meta data centre will far outweigh the transmission savings.”
“As our analysis shows, when these new large-scale data centres connect to the grid, it puts pressure on the electricity market, increasing costs until new power plants come online,” said Pembina, which describes itself as a clean-energy think tank.
The analysis shows the likely impact of the planned Meta centre northeast of Edmonton on the typical Alberta’s power bill from 2027 to 2031, Pembina said.
“Albertans already pay some of the highest and most volatile electricity rates in the country,” said David Pickup, Pembina’s director of electricity. “If data centres are coming to Alberta, they should help make our electricity system stronger, cleaner and more affordable. Instead, Alberta’s current rules risk increasing consumer costs, while locking in new high-emission gas power.”
The latter point is a reference to Premier Danielle Smith’s policy of ensuring AI data centres are powered by natural gas from clapped out and otherwise uneconomic wells rather than renewable sources such as solar or wind power.
“Removing red tape for renewables can help to stabilize energy costs, enable local economic development, and reduce the emissions impact of this emerging industry,” Mr. Pickup added, although we all understand that’s not going to happen under the UCP. It’s funny, isn’t it, how solar arrays on agricultural land were a huge problem for the UCP but scores of massive data centres in the same kind of locations are not.
Pembina’s conclusion is similar to what the Alberta Federation of Labour called free riding on the electricity grid in a July 16 news release that quoted a new study by the respectable but nevertheless right-wing C.D. Howe Institute and the AFL’s own research from two years ago on the impact of concentration in Alberta’s so-called deregulated electricity market, which has foisted the most expensive electricity rates in Canada on Albertans.
“Albertans have already overpaid $24 billion because of deregulation and privatization of our power market,” the AFL President Gil McGowan said in that statement. “Now the government is adding a foreign tech giant to the front of the line, with no public say and no plan to deal with the inevitable fallout.”
“The solution is clear,” he added, “re-regulate generation and put the public back in charge of Alberta’s power.” Well, we also know that’s not going to happen under the UCP.
Last year, Pembina said the average Alberta household spent approximately $1,700 on electricity. Of that, energy costs made up 40 per cent, distribution charges 23 per cent, transmission charges 18 per cent and administration fees 14 per cent, plus another 5 per cent in taxes.
“Albertans may be paying 15 per cent to 25 per cent more for their electricity in the next five years as a result of the data centre,” the Pembina release said.
In addition, if more hyperscale AI data centres are built, as the UCP has made clear it intends, “similar price spikes are expected,” Pembina said in a data sheet it published on the topic.
No one should be surprised that the Alberta Government’s “virtual town hall” on the data centres last night was a much tamer affair than the rowdy live events in Lacombe and Redwater on Aug. 19 and 20 at which, quelle horreur, Technology Minister Nate Glubish had to endure boos and catcalls from citizens.
Doing it over the Internet puts the control back in the hands of the moderators, although it should probably make the UCP a little nervous that more than 12,500 people tuned in, according to Primary Care Minister Justin Wright, who was brought in to replace less diplomatic political staffer Vitor Marciano in the chair.
What’s more, The Canadian Press reported, no one who was allowed to speak expressed any enthusiasm about the government’s AI data centre scheme.
Unlike the live meetings in real Alberta towns, Premier Smith sat in on this one, taking the opportunity in a response to one questioner to boost her Oct. 19 referenda pushing a MAGA-style immigration policies and Alberta intrusion into federal jurisdiction.
Danielle Smith is too much of a coward to have an in person town hall on these AI data centres. She knows the backlash will be immense. Nobody wants these AI data centres, because of the myriad of problems they create. There are already environmental concerns, and concerns over polluting and depleting the finite water supply. Noise is immense, and it does not stop. People pay through the nose for power, from these AI data centres. Very little employment results. Who wins? Only the rich friends of the UCP, not Albertans. What kickbacks are happening with Danielle Smith and the UCP here? We already pay the highest power prices in Canada due to Ralph Klein giving us a deregulated electricity grid. At this stage in time, that has cost us dearly, with a price tag of likely $40 billion. MLAs from the Don Getty and Peter Lougheed governments, as well as power engineers, have said that electricity deregulation was a very foolish thing to do. Now, we will see our power costs in Alberta spike even more. There will be another breaking point for the UCP to be gone, and there already is many as it is. These AI data centres will not even make rural Albertans happy.
Not a good day for Smith and the UCP. Now that the $460 power cost increase figure is out in the wild, it will be hard to contain or bury it.
Surprisingly, it was even mentioned in the Edmonton Journal, although more in passing and towards the end of its article. Perhaps they are getting tired of being scooped by the Globe and Mail, which consistently seems braver about printing less favourable things about Smith and the UCP.
Or maybe Smith will try use this town hall as a start of a dramatic Evita like transformation in paying attention to the little people, as data centres risk becoming unpopular and too distracting from her preferred distraction of the 9 bad (and one confusing) referendum questions. This is fairly unlikely, but lest we forget her dramatic floor crossing, Smith can be at times quite unpredictable, sort of like her MAGA role model.
Lest we also forget, Alberta power rates, like our auto insurance rates are already higher than many other provinces. So much for the Alberta Advantage. Seems like if we go ahead with these data centres we may pay even more for our power.
“It won’t be easy
You’ll think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love
After all that I’ve done
You won’t believe me…”
“Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”
Andrew Lloyd Weber
“…Premier Danielle Smith’s policy of ensuring AI data centres are powered by natural gas from clapped out and otherwise uneconomic wells rather than renewable sources such as solar or wind power.”
I am wondering if anyone has seen the contracts data centre operators are required to sign. Specifically, I am wondering if data centre operators are prohibited from installing solar panels on the roofs of their buildings, or have they just agreed to install gas fired generators? Given the amount of power these facilities consume, and their vast area, I think solar panels would be a perfect fit as a means of reducing the company’s operating costs.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/08/21/news/alberta-data-centre-power-rules DJC
I doubt that the area available on Meta’s proposed data centre’s roofs would provide enough solar electricity to even keep the lights going inside. Those centres are huge energy hogs.
“Do we really want an affordability crisis in Eastern Canada?” Danielle Smith asked yesterday at a press conference. All that was missing was sad violin music.
As for Albertans, who cares? Certainly not Danielle Smith. To paraphrase her mentor Ralph Klein, let those western b*$t@rd$ freeze in the dark.
The pathos was theatre, about as real as that time she scrunched up her face and tried to cry but couldn’t make a single tear. She is, after all, a failed actor who found that phony baloney worked better on the plebes than paying audiences.
It remains to be seen if the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come will visit Danielle Smith this year as she pets her Gold Cat, alone in her Panama palace, but she’s unlikely to toss anyone a lump of coal. Tiny Tim will be a vassal in the new US Territory of 54-40 by then. Suck it up, Timbit — not her problem. Her twisted history at the end of days will see her swimming in piles of cash and gold necklaces like Scrooge McDuck. What else do you expect any common-sense early 21st century authoritarian to do?
Smith doesn’t care, she’s just going to do want she wants.
And what she is paid under the table. No one will convince me there is no money flowing for all her fascist services to Private Health Care, Oil Industry and now a new revenue flow from Meta.
All right, you managed to convince me.
LOL Good job Carlos
It’s not just the extra cost of electricity that Albertans will enjoy, but additional costs for natural gas. If these guys actually build new generators, there will be a big demand on gas which of course will raise the price which we will all pay for to heat our homes.
I can’t tell if Smith still thinks she’s holding the cards, or just doesn’t care at this point. The contempt was palpable. To begin, a bunch of who signed up for the phone call, didn’t get the phone call. Folks on the call who were worried about their power bill were advised to just ‘lock in a contract’. BIG, big words were used- linear taxation, cost causation, hard-coded into the legislation. Reclamation? Used warehouses apparently have lots and lots of value; unlike those nasty turbine blades. The electronics that need to be replaced every two years? We’ll just follow the environmental rules. I mean, it’s not like we’re the ones writing those rules. The noise concerns? Not a problem, the UCP will give guidance to municipalities, kind of like they did in Calgary during Stampede, I guess. Does Poilievre wants to weigh in too? Must be a data centre or two coming in his riding. Bruce in Vulcan wanted to know what happens to irrigation if the co-location of data centre and power plant drain the reservoirs. Seeing as we have a ‘strong bias to water in food production’ says Smith, we’ll just build more reservoirs. Or go up north or something, only the Nations up there, we’ll use their water, we don’t listen to them anyway. DS cited Louisiana as a shining example of AI progress. The difference, of course, for folks who might not understand, is that they call them ‘parishes’ down there instead of ‘counties’. Renaming coming soon? Because in Louisiana Meta runs local schools. Isn’t that just the sweetest? Then DS went on to reprimand a caller worried about our data sovereignty. If you don’t want Meta to have your data, says she, don’t use Meta! Peggy in Calgary concerned about the ongoing drought in southern and central Alberta,”We can live without computers and have done it before, but we can’t live without water.” DS firmly but gently reminded her that the lack of water was strictly a municipal infrastructure problem, you know, leakage. All those silly incompetent former mayors.
Bruce from Drayton Valley, a proud Albertan, closed up the session, praising our Premier and her wonderful call from here to Sunday. You could hear DS coyly blushing on the phone. Bless.
Casey Klein is organizing in Grande Prairie, Bek Macintosh in Olds hasn’t fallen back on her laurels, still mad as spit. The Sturgeon County appellants are meeting in Redwater tonight at 6 at the Redwater Provincial Recreation Area RR 205. Go with questions, information, concerns or just to listen.
In the meantime, a host of passionate Edmontonians, concerned about road safety for vulnerable users, climate change and community building showed up at City Hall to call out failed Pace and wannabe UCP candidates Justin Thomas, Jesse Watson, Berry Miles, Mark Hillman, Jennifer Rice et al. and their community breaking social media bike lane and infill rants. The cyclists vigorously and thoughtfully defended the multi-year cycling infrastructure plan that the administration wanted to scrap- because- you know, hurt feelings about construction and the Minister yelled at them. Quite satisfying to hear council ask administration to confirm that they ‘understood the signalling’. A little muffled ‘yes’ from administration, worthy of a 10 year old caught stealing the candy. I’m not holding my breath for a bike lane in my community any time soon, but it did feel like a bit of a moral victory. Not so much that we fought City Hall and won, but that City Hall actually has the back of the people who live and work and travel here. A good day’s work.
Thanks for this very helpful report, Emily. It’s a very good question you ask. I think the premier continues to believe she can talk her way out of any corner and get her way. It’s always worked up to now. Why not forever? DJC
“If you don’t want Meta to have your data, says she, don’t use Meta!” That’s actually good advice. Meta is a company that profits from AI agents that drive teenagers to suicide.
What a joke. Well it smells like money so forget about teenagers!
Really glad I installed solar panels now.
Albertans in general should now start seriously considering rooftop solar electricity generation, as well as electrification generally. EVs and hybrids, yes, but also heat pumps, lawn mowers, e-bikes. Any amount of energy that you generate yourself is a savings. Think of it as having an oil well in your back yard. Danielle Smith may love shareholders in the natural gas industry but we’re the ones paying the bill.
And about that. Danielle Smith’s idea of deliberately shutting out renewables from providing electricity to the incredibly power hungry data centres only makes sense if she stands to benefit personally. In other words it’s blatantly corrupt.
Yes to all of it: rooftop solar panels, high efficiency furnace, heat pump, electric heat pump hot water heater, EV, PHEV (hey, hey, no extra $200 annual licence fee, most daily trips run on EV; same weight), electric lawnmower, electric BBQ, high-efficiency appliances, including induction stove and front-loading washing machine. Heat pump clothes dryers are available now, too. Maximize solar panel energy usage by charging EVs during daylight hours, as well as using appliances when the sun is shining. Sodium-ion batteries for solar storage are emerging for home use in Europe.
Some of us are trying to make economic and environmentally-sustainable choices while the UCP government works to sabotage our every effort. It would be a shame to have to sell up and move if Dani and her separatists bat their pretty eyelashes all Canadian-like and flush nearly 121 years of Alberta history down the separatist sewer. It would be a shame to let come-by-night shysters dry up our glaciers, lakes and rivers and spew out toxic sludge, or freeze us out of our homes by making gas and electricity too expensive to heat them. Did you know Dani said on a 30+°C. day that Alberta is cold, so that’s why data centres come here? It’s so cold that they’ll roast us for Sunday dinner in July and August.
Here’s an idea. Before we give it all away, clear-cut the national parks and provincial forestry lands to ensure fire-safe corridors for data centres. Then harvest endangered grizzly-critters ‘cuz they’ll die anyways without habitat. Same with the caribou. More room for data centres! Hundreds! Save the AI data centres from malevolent trees! Fewer trees, fewer books. Feed those to AI, too. Make it a wasteland! It’s all going to the US anyways. They can relate.
Corrupt, much? Greed-fuelled psychopathy, much? It’s high time that someone with legal authority did some deep-diving into influence peddling, bribery, money laundering, illegal campaign donations and plain old-fashioned law-breaking like fraud. The Criminal Code isn’t just for nine provinces and three territories. I wonder if they would find anything?
We have pigeon guards for solar panels. It’s a shame there’s so nothing to stop the UCPigeons in the Alberta Legislature.
(Not sorry for the rant.)
I just bought a E cargo trike. An Emmo Trobic, if anyone is interested. I did the math and for me to drive my truck 20k to the grocery store 3 X a week is approx. 28-30 bucks in gas. This E bike, after doing the math is .80 per trip, or $2.40 per week and it’ll carry most everything I need.
Of course. As far as the solar panels be careful because she may consider them unsightly and request them to be ripped off. Remember Ronald Reagan?
A phrase that kept popping up from last night’s virtual “townhall”, being continuously touted by smith and glubish, was that the AI data centers will be subject to the Alberta govt’s “rigorous environmental measures”. Truly ironic as there are NONE. ZERO. NADA.
The only “environmental” measures smith has written up and will adhere to are those that prohibit clean, renewable energy (including DISALLOWING data centers from using wind/solar – even if they actually WANT TO).
Smith’s idea of a “clean” environment is rape and destroy, ASAP, and get the h*ll out with the CASH
Charlotte Holmes: These rigorous environmental measures? I have never seen that from the UCP. Water definitely isn’t a priority for the UCP. Danielle Smith has no real concern for it. Renewable energy is bad, bad, bad! Harmful coal mines and leaks from toxic tailings ponds are good, good, good! There is no more Alberta Water Council, because of funding cuts.
First Nation Sues Alberta Regulator Over Tailings Leaks https://share.google/C9BckSAoHku4Ccfrx
Alberta Water Council shuts down amid funding cuts – Water Canada https://share.google/NyNDW3JzbBuPgmkay
$460 is what Danielle Smith expenses for dinner. She has no idea (nor does she care) that this is a lot of money to many Albertans.
Especially the AISH recipients she clawed back $200.00 per month from PM Carney.
As someone from Ontario who does have certain Alberta connections…
I’m wondering why I haven’t heard this slogan RE: the referendum……. “Vote NO to all 9.” You wouldn’t even have to say much beyond that, other than explaining to your out-of-touch neighbour that this referendum is a critical turning point for AB. So VOTE NO.
https://albertasvoice.ca/
https://www.stalbertgazette.com/alberta-decides/no-to-the-nine-albertas-voice-campaign-brings-referendum-message-to-st-albert-12654464
DJC
Your fellow resident with Alberta connections agrees.
“No to the nine” is indeed a slogan. But the separation referendum doesn’t have a clear ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer. It’s more like “Remain” or “Vote Again, this time for real”.
Clearly US cloud capitalists like Meta are absolutely devastated by the Carny Banker’s economic elbows. They’ve been sent packing and once again Canadian sovereignty prevails. The True North, as strong and free as Kermit the Frog. Any war but class war! The Carny Banker’s chums will be visiting shortly. Get ready for some delicious Canadian-style deregulation, corporate welfare and austerity for the 99.99%. Mmm mmm, I can taste it already!
And here I thought that was a photo of one of those detox centres that the AHS was flogging.
While my American Relatives don’t want any part of them knowing the financial mess they will create Danielle Smith and her Reformers invite them to come to Alberta and be our problem just like they did with their coal mining stupidity and look at the can of worms that’s created, that’s how stupid these Reform Party fools are isn’t it? Who cares what the people think.
Or as Ralph Klein stated “ Albertans aren’t smart enough to understand what our healthcare reform will be so we aren’t going to tell you what they are”. It didn’t stop the stupid seniors from telling us that he was a wonderful man and was looking after us really well, that’s how stupid they were.
This article is just a HIT PIECE BASED ON SPECULATION! Read it & it says rates will be reduced but they say that the Market like the Stock Market will Rise raising prices, False & Speculation. They also Spread the Miss information about Alberta having High Energy prices, Totally False based on the 22cent non regulated Rate when today you can get Electricity from any provider at 7 to 8 Cents/ KWH, totally competitive & lower than in other Provinces & these rates are Locked in so NOT EFFECTED BY A SPECULATED INCREASE SUGGESTED BY THIS ARTICLE. The statements are Missleading and made to excite the Gullible & by the Comments it is working. AI centers will bring investments & jobs, all good. Besides adding to the Electric Grid they don’t use Massive amounts of Water, does your Cars Radiator need to be refilled all the Time NO. Like the Oulsands they said the same about water, they are producing 10 times more Oil and water use hasn’t increased since yhe 1990’s. Get informed
One day, hopefully soon, analysts will try to pinpoint exactly at what point DS jumped the shark.
The classic attempt to reverse flagging ratings is confirmed by a series of subsequent stunts which keep backfiring and, with the Ai-data-centre debacle, her fading confidence in defending against rural protest from a major UCP constituency in the context of her almost steady position in Team Canada’s penalty box, &c, is getting so sweaty as to moot that the initiating shark-jump must have happened many attempts to recover ago. It’s academic now.
Smith’s noticeable emulation of tRump’s virtually total lack of strategic thinking combines with heedlessness. Since we do have evidence of gormless tactics from both pasts it’s hard to pinpoint anything except that supreme hubris has afflicted both in the present. If there’s a word that combines hubris, gormlessness, and idiocy, it’d sure come in handy. Maybe some day.
With a hope and a prayer that’s probably all we need to know, but it’s hard to look away from this double train wreck, if only to be assured that one day soon the harm(s) will stop.
Be well on Labour Day weekend , my Alberta friends.