# PG&E CEO Says AI Could Bring Investment to California’s Grid

By Sonny Jang

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/people/39437
Published: 2026-10-23T23:39:08.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-23T23:39:08.000Z
Section: People

> Separately, Patti Poppe said broader electricity-demand growth could help fund grid upgrades if data center operators cover their share of the costs.

PG&E CEO Patti Poppe said artificial intelligence could bring investment to California’s electric grid, while separately arguing that broader electricity demand can help finance upgrades if data center customers pay their share.

“I think AI is the best thing that could’ve ever happened to the grid,” Poppe said. In a separate discussion of demand from data centers, electric vehicles and household appliances, she said rising electricity use could fund rebuilding aging infrastructure. She argued that data center operators must pay a rate that covers their share of grid costs so other customers do not carry those costs. Her argument about funding upgrades concerned broader demand growth, not AI-related data center demand alone.

Poppe said PG&E had about 12 gigawatts of data center applications across more than 50 projects, while cautioning that not all would be built. That figure represents proposed demand, not completed capacity. Separately, 174 megawatts of new data center projects had been energized since 2024.

PG&E estimates that each additional gigawatt of data center load could help lower customers’ monthly electric bills by at least 1% with appropriate pricing. The savings estimate is conditional on how the new demand is priced. A gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts, roughly the level of California’s entire data center demand in early 2026.

Data centers accounted for about 1,000 megawatts, or 2% of California Independent System Operator peak demand, in early 2026. The California Energy Commission projects the figure will reach 4,500 megawatts, or 9%, by 2040. Its forecast takes into account the likelihood that proposed projects will be completed, so the application pipeline is not treated as guaranteed demand.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed seven data center-related bills Sept. 21. The measures address electricity, water and land-use rules, and are intended to require data centers to pay their share of grid upgrade costs while preventing those costs from shifting to low-income customers.