CUB is dismayed by reports that the Trump administration has cut the entire federal staff responsible for overseeing the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP, or Energy Assistance) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Energy Assistance is a vital and extremely popular program. Even a delay in funding will mean that eligible Minnesotans risk utility shutoffs or being unable to refill empty propane or fuel oil tanks.
Powering the equipment within data centers, and keeping them cool, requires enormous amounts of electricity and water. A single Amazon data center being built in Sherburne County will require 600 MW of power – roughly equivalent to the power demand of an entire city. CUB has asked for protections to be put into state law to make sure that households and businesses are not impacted by the growth of data centers on Minnesota’s electric grid.
From January through October 2024, investor-owned utilities disconnected more than 85,000 residential households from either gas or electric service: more than any full year going back to at least 2015.
