In a rural corner of Louisiana, Meta is building one of the world’s largest data centers, a $10 billion behemoth as big as 70 football fields that will consume more power in a day than the entire city of New Orleans at the peak of summer, reports The Associated Press.
While the colossal project is impossible to miss in Richland Parish, a farming community of 20,000 residents, not everything is visible, including how much the social media giant will pay toward the more than $3 billion in new electricity infrastructure needed to power the facility.
Under contract with Meta, power company Entergy agreed to build three gas-powered plants that would produce 2,262 megawatts—equivalent to one-fifth of Entergy’s current power supply in Louisiana. The Public Service Commission approved Meta’s infrastructure plan in August after Entergy agreed to bolster protections to prevent a spike in residential rates.
Nonetheless, nondisclosure agreements conceal how much Meta will pay.
Consumer advocates tried but failed to compel Meta to provide sworn testimony, submit to discovery and face cross-examination during a regulatory review. Regulators reviewed Meta’s contract with Entergy, but were barred from revealing details.
Meta did not address AP’s questions about transparency, while Louisiana’s economic development agency and Entergy say nondisclosure agreements are standard to protect sensitive commercial data.
Davante Lewis—the only one of five public service commissioners to vote against the plan—said he’s still unclear how much electricity the center will use, if gas-powered plants are the most economical option or if it will create the promised 500 jobs.
“There’s certain information we should know and need to know but don’t have,” Lewis says.
Additionally, Meta is exempt from paying sales tax under a 2024 Louisiana law that the state acknowledges could lead to “tens of millions of dollars or more each year” in lost revenue.
Meta has agreed to fund about half the cost of building the power plants over 15 years, including cost overruns, but not maintenance and operation, says Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, a consumer advocacy group.
Public Service Commission Jean-Paul Coussan insists there will be “very little” impact on ratepayers.
But watchdogs warn Meta could pull out of or not renew its contract, leaving the public to pay for the power plants over the rest of their 30-year life span, and all grid users are expected to help pay for the $550 million transmission line serving Meta’s facility.
Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard University’s Electricity Law Initiative, says tech companies should be required to pay “every penny so the public is not left holding the bag.”
