Commonwealth Edison, Chicago’s primary electricity distributor, announced in May that its customers should expect monthly bills to increase by $2 to $3 beginning June 1.

Data center projects around Illinois are expected to generate millions in taxes, which contribute to schools and city services. There are leaders who question whether the benefits make up for increased energy prices and water use.

Calls for regulation are bipartisan, but the specifics are still being negotiated between lawmakers, data center companies and trade groups.

Gov. JB Pritzker has also proposed a two-year pause on state financial incentives for data centers that have been in place since 2019.

Illinois state legislators are proposing the Power Act, which would put guardrails around the rapid expansion of large-scale data centers.

The Citizens Utility Board is sounding the alarm on data centers’ growing demand on the electrical grid, saying Illinois consumers can expect higher electric bills.

In a reversal from previous years’ pollution reductions, the United States spewed 2.4% more heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels in 2025 than in the year before, researchers calculated in a study released Tuesday.

A new report by state regulators projects energy shortfalls will begin in northern Illinois by 2029 and the rest of the state by 2031 if lawmakers and grid operators don’t act.

A new report explores how unprecedented levels of consumption by heavy water users — namely “hyperscale” data centers — could lead to conflicts over and even shortages of water, even in the Great Lakes.

Illinois has been at the forefront of the data center boom, but state lawmakers are working to gauge and mitigate the impact these centers have on climate and energy consumption.