The Free-Market Case for Data Centers

“One great idea for improving the investment environment is Consumer Regulated Electricity (CRE) — privately financed, physically “off-grid” utilities serving new large customers, such as data centers, under voluntary contracts. These systems would impose zero costs, reliability risks, or stranded-asset burdens on the existing regulated power grid. CRE reform shields companies from laws which shouldn’t apply to them and saves ratepayers money.

“CRE just means if you’re not connected to the grid, you wouldn’t be regulated by a state commission or the federal government in terms of the economics. You’d still be subject to environmental regs, but it frees you up from the bureaucratic gatekeepers,” Fisher said. “Laws were designed for public utilities, not private ones. CRE is a private grid. That grid connection is the rate limiter on economic growth.””

https://www.nationalreview.com/2026/04/the-free-market-case-for-data-centers/