Readers may recall that Kelley Williams and I have written extensively about all the new Mississippi data centers, especially the huge one in Madison. Our beef is that these data centers will consume more electricity than all the other grid customers combined. Who is going to pay for this?
The Madison data center is shrouded in legislative-mandated secrecy but it’s connected to the same grid to which all the residential Entergy customers are connected. Not only is this data center going to stress the grid and increase the likelihood of brown and black outs, but residential customers will be footing much of the cost, causing Entergy residential rates to skyrocket.
Entergy rates have already increased. My base rate has increased from $12.23 Kwh in 2023 to $13.80 in 2025. That’s a 12.8 percent increase over two years. But that’s nothing compared to what’s to come.
Since our articles, there has been an avalanche of articles across the nation warning of this impending residential rate disaster caused by AI’s insatiable demand for electricity.
In our articles, Kelley and I suggested that the AI companies should supply their own electricity. This is called “behind the meter” electricity generation. That’s where AI companies build and pay for their own electricity generating plants which directly supply their data center without using the public grids.
This is exactly what Elon Musk is doing in Memphis. AI companies pay for their own electricity without hurting existing residential customers. It’s fair. It’s also efficient, since directly supplied electricity is more reliable than a huge amorphous statewide grid.
Last week President Trump got involved. In his State of the Union speech, Trump said exactly what Kelley and I have been advocating. AI companies and data centers should carry their own weight and pay for their own power plants.
Trump said large tech firms building energy-intensive data centers should supply their own electricity, rather than relying on the public grid.
He announced a “ratepayer protection pledge” requiring major tech companies to “provide for their own power needs.”
The Wall Street Journal noted in an editorial this transition to ‘behind the meter” data center power generation may become a business necessity. Public outrage over high power bills is putting political pressure on state legislators and public service commissions around the nation, slowing the complex permitting necessary for data centers to access public electricity grids.
Meanwhile, China is building 50 new large scale coal plants to power AI. The Wall Street Journal editorial article suggested our aversion to coal could cause us to lose the AI race with China.
Meanwhile, a friend just sent me a four-minute AI generated video meme about Trinidad Chambliss returning to Ole Miss. The video was amazing, with realistic dancing girls and boat rides and tropical beach cookouts. Unfortunately, you could have grilled 400 beach burgers on an electric stove for the electricity cost of making that silly meme. This is a real problem. Something has got to give. Whoever made that meme, should have paid for the electricity used to create it.
My dear Aunt Fae passed away at age 99. We were close and I will miss her dearly.
One unusual thing about her funeral is that one of her many grandchildren distributed along with her obituary a pamphlet titled “Mimi’s Advice.” I would be remiss if I did not share this with my readers. Her advice is as unique and insightful as she was.
My first piece of advice, is to never give unsolicited advice! A bit of an oxymoron with this page…
• When someone is bragging or trying to impress you, be impressed because they think highly enough of you to want to impress you.
• Never marry someone who loves you more than you love them.
• If you make your bed, the room will look clean even if everything else is in disarray, same goes for cleaning the kitchen counter.
• When you’ve raised your children, and they marry, don’t give advice to the son or daughter-in-law. Your children love you unconditionally, their spouses are still learning to love you.
• Never complain to a daughter or son about his or her spouse, you can complain to your daughter or son-in-law about your children. Fortunately, I have never had the desire to complain about my daughters-in-law or son-in-law. I have complained to them about my children.
• It never hurt anybody, to be extra kind to someone.
• Mother was always trying to help someone; I tried to follow her. She got into a lot of messes… but you should still try!
• Make resolutions. Every year I have the same New Year’s Resolutions. To lose weight, talk less and remember people’s names. I generally am pretty good until the end of January…
• Listen more than you speak (I need to follow this advice every day).
• When someone invites you to something, GO! You never know if they are going to ask you again.
• When you walk into a room, look for the person who seems uncomfortable or out of place. Go talk to them. It doesn’t take much to make someone feel included, and it can change the entire room for them. I always tried to do this, and I wanted my children and grandchildren to do the same.
Time marches on. Last week I said goodbye to my friend and tennis buddy Jim Palmer, a warm and friendly longtime Northside stockbroker known by thousands of Northsiders. Jim is the identical twin of John Palmer, who built a big Mississippi paging company and later was ambassador to Portugal. It took me 15 years before I could tell them apart. The Palmer twins were close friends with the McNamara twins, Daniel and David, who it also took me 15 years to tell apart. They both passed away a few years go.
Jim’s obituary noted “Of Jim’s many interests, tennis was at the top of the list. He played most every day into his early 80s.”
I was an often substitute for their Sunday tennis doubles group, which included over a dozen great older players. I was one of the young ones, but they took me in as their own. After the match, we would enjoy a drink at Slew’s Place at River Hills. I learned so much and enjoyed so many great tales with these wonderful men. Knowing them was a blessing and I will miss them dearly.
