Fact-Check: Florida Candidate's Claims on AI Data Center Impact Partly Accurate
Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback claims AI data centers will "drive up your electric bills by 30 or 40%" and "suck up 500,000 gallons of water a day." PolitiFact found his statement is partially accurate but incomplete.
The electricity claim
Fishback's 30-40% figure lacks supporting evidence. No public data shows AI data centers are currently responsible for bill increases of that magnitude, and Fishback did not respond to questions about where he obtained the numbers.
The reality is more mixed. Studies project future increases that sometimes approach his estimate. A June 2025 study found data centers could raise electric bills by 8% nationwide by 2030, but 25% in Virginia, which has heavy data center concentration. One 2024 analysis projected Virginia bills could climb 70% to meet data center demand.
In states with large AI data center operations, recent price increases have outpaced national averages. Virginia saw 13% increases year-over-year in August 2025, Illinois 16%, and Ohio 12%, compared to a 6.1% national average.
Utility companies are spending billions on infrastructure upgrades to power data centers. Costs get distributed across service territories, raising bills for all customers. However, utility rate structures are largely confidential, making it difficult to isolate the exact impact on individual bills.
The water consumption claim
Fishback's 500,000-gallon-per-day figure is accurate for mid-sized facilities. A typical data center uses between 300,000 to 500,000 gallons daily-equivalent to about 1,000 households.
Larger AI data centers consume far more. Some facilities use up to 5 million gallons per day, comparable to a city of 50,000 people. State-of-the-art facilities have agreements allowing up to 8 million gallons daily.
Data centers use water to cool equipment. About 80% evaporates, while 20% goes to wastewater treatment facilities subject to Clean Water Act requirements.
Newer cooling technologies like air and immersion cooling have improved efficiency. Closed-loop systems can reduce freshwater use by 70%. Still, the expanding scale of facilities drives up total water demand, particularly during peak summer days when communities may lack sufficient infrastructure.
The broader context
Governor Ron DeSantis and lawmakers from both parties are moving to regulate AI data centers. The Florida Senate unanimously passed a bill on February 26 requiring moderations on electricity rates and water management.
Data centers have existed since the 1940s, but AI facilities are orders of magnitude larger. New hyperscale centers span hundreds to over 1,000 acres. Meta's planned Hyperion facility in Louisiana could be four times the size of Manhattan's Central Park.
In 2024, U.S. data centers consumed about 4% of total national electricity. The International Energy Agency found a typical AI data center uses as much power annually as 100,000 homes, with the largest under construction potentially using 20 times that amount.
The verdict
Fishback's claims contain factual elements but overstate current impacts. His 500,000-gallon water figure applies to mid-sized facilities, not the hyperscale operations now being built. His 30-40% electricity increase claim lacks evidence for current conditions, though some projections for high-concentration states approach those numbers.
PolitiFact rates the statement Half True.
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