[Major U.S. Tech Companies Sign Commitment to Bear Their Own AI Energy Costs to Prevent Residential Electricity Price Hikes] BlockBeats News, March 5: On Wednesday local time, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI signed a non-binding 'User Protection Commitment,' pledging to 'independently build, introduce, or purchase' the energy required for the construction and operation of data centers, ensuring that related costs will not be passed on to ordinary consumers to prevent electricity price hikes for U.S. residents. It is currently unclear how the White House will ensure companies fulfill this commitment. Trump stated that the public is concerned that data center construction could drive up electricity prices, but he promised that this would not happen. The power demand of AI data centers has already exceeded existing supply capacity in some parts of the U.S., and it is estimated that by 2028, data center power consumption could account for 12% of the nation's electricity usage. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, residential electricity prices are expected to rise by 6% in 2025 and continue to increase through 2027 and 2028.