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How Amazon, One of the Richest Companies in the World, Secretly Offloads Its Electricity Costs To Local Taxpayers Who Live Near Its Data Centers (bloomberg.com)
Several readers have shared this Bloomberg report: Amazon Web Services, the company's cloud computing business, is its fastest-growing and most profitable division, but it comes with a lot of upfront infrastructure costs and ongoing expenses, the biggest of which is electricity. Over the past two years, Amazon has almost doubled the size of its physical footprint worldwide, to 254 million square feet, including dozens of new data centers with vast fields of servers running 24/7. In at least two states, it's also negotiated with utilities and politicians to stick other people with the bills, piling untold millions of dollars on top of the estimated $1.2 billion in state and municipal tax incentives the company has received over the past decade.
Other companies, including Google and Tesla, have taken advantage of the power industry's hunger for growth and the relative secrecy that followed its 1990s deregulation in dozens of states. But Amazon stands out for its success in offloading its power costs and also because it dominates America's cloud business, which has gone from nonexistent to using 2 percent of U.S. electricity in about a decade. "Amazon had a huge advantage, because there weren't a lot of other sectors growing in the electricity market," says Neal Elliott, senior director of research at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a green lobbying group. The company has also ratcheted up the secrecy around who's paying for electricity, says environmental advocate Greenpeace, which calls Amazon the single biggest obstacle to industry transparency.
Other companies, including Google and Tesla, have taken advantage of the power industry's hunger for growth and the relative secrecy that followed its 1990s deregulation in dozens of states. But Amazon stands out for its success in offloading its power costs and also because it dominates America's cloud business, which has gone from nonexistent to using 2 percent of U.S. electricity in about a decade. "Amazon had a huge advantage, because there weren't a lot of other sectors growing in the electricity market," says Neal Elliott, senior director of research at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a green lobbying group. The company has also ratcheted up the secrecy around who's paying for electricity, says environmental advocate Greenpeace, which calls Amazon the single biggest obstacle to industry transparency.
This is truly shocking...
I wondered what that huge-ass extension cord going from the side of my house towards the general direction of the Amazon data center was for!
That and the $400k/month electric bills. I figured I just had the AC set kind of high.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I say again. After tax breaks and all other leaching, does it really make sense for us to allure these huge companies to cities if there is no net benefit for the city?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Don't lump in Tesla with Google and Amazon. Tesla is a green company and has a mission to save the environment and the planet. They would never do this just to save some money.
This makes them smart, like our great President Trump. I applaud them for taking full advantage of any opportunity to save money and provide me with the best possible Amazon Prime experience.
Keep it up, Mr. Bezos!
It's at the point where it's not just Amazon to blame; we've been informed enough that those of you who choose to still support this evil monstrosity and give it their business have a shitload to answer for as well.
Honest officer, they're not marijuana plants, I'm running an experimental, all natural, plant based data centre for Amazon!
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
all around the world!
In at least two states, it's also negotiated with utilities and politicians to stick other people with the bills
So, is this Amazon's fault, or the fault of the "utilities and politicians"?
Usually when i read more than 2 times the words ÂÂsecretÂÂ on a paragraph itâ(TM)s about selling viagra - but that news is just about as empty in content, than the personâ(TM)s brain who wrote it. If you dont like Aws, dont buy, instead of spreading BS about them.
Just remember that the little boy died at the end of the story. That little boy is your community.
https://www.shortstoryproject.com/rocking-horse-winner/
Have gnu, will travel.
...offloads/externalizes as much of their costs as they possible can onto the public.
That's how capitalism works!
States do a lot of things to entice businesses to their State. Its always some sort of good will or some would call bribery to make companies setup shop there. grease the wheels of progress, and in return the states feel the increased employment, workers paying taxes, and other income increases make up for those things eventually. Although there are plenty of examples where companies got deals and then moved out of state when those perks ran out.
And I'm sure their CEO receives a bonus for that.
That's modern day capitalism for your: Privatise the profits, socialise the spendings.
Coal would have died without Greenpeace and others like them driving up the cost of nuclear. Coal mines were going bankrupt in the late 60s and early 70s but then nuclear costs went up 10x and suddenly coal was viable again. Greenpeace is responsible for a good portion of the CO2 in the atmosphere as well as lead, arsenic and radioactive dust released from coal burning (yes, coal has radio active material in it, usually in the form of daughter particles of radon decay). Plus all the deaths from the mining of coal. Screw them and their virtue signalling about being good for the environment.
you don't get rich by leaving money on the table.
And to quote our stable genius president, "not paying taxes is just being smart". Like not going to Vietnam and getting captured by the VC makes you smart.
HORNY WUSS is the source of ignorant propaganda locally. He doesn't know his head-filled-ass from any other asshole in his treasonous party of shamless sellout faggots from child molester red states.
... their electrical costs. It'd be too bad if their insane power use forced an increase of the cost of Amazon Prime.
Oh... wait...
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
When they lobby for them and buy off the politicians with campaign donations. This isn't just a case of town making a bad deal. It's widespread political corruption that's been legalized by multiple supreme & lower court rulings.
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except the politicians who got big campaign contributions. It was only a handful of jobs. Nobody's going to much notice the tax dollars. They _will_ notice their taxes go up to pay the subsidies though. But, well, I hate to say it but they'll probably blame those tax and spend liberals...
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There is nothing uncommon about volume purchasers paying less per unit. Nobody runs around claiming this practice raises the cost for everyone else under some circumstances it can even reduce costs because the producer is making a large profit on the high volume.
Statements like "AEP exempted it from surcharges other Ohioans must pay" are very vague. They don't describe what the surcharges are for. Some localities attach public transit and other public service fund surcharges to energy bills. A super high volume consumer would be paying an inordinate percentage of the total.
Lastly, these large tech companies are investing heavily in renewable energy. Last I heard Amazon was at 50% renewable with multiple large projects under development.
Film at 11? Seriously, what is the news here?
The first "hook" in the story is about some woman who protested new overhead lines being built to an Amazon data center, so the utility eventually gave in and put them underground - and charged her, and her fellow NIMBYists, for that.
Cry me a fucking river. You're the one who campaigned for the more expensive solution. Don't blame Amazon for that.
Then we're into "Amazon gets undisclosed, cheaper rates for electricity". Well, fucking duh. *Everyone* who consumes more than a certain amount does that. In the same way, you'll never find out exactly what your local Wal-Mart or mall is paying per kWh, either - those contracts and prices are highly commercially sensitive. Why are we singling out Amazon?
Could it be that someone is trying to discredit Amazon specifically? Now who would do a thing like that?
simple solution. Also saves the planet
But, that being said, I DO NOT, and NEVER have liked any "tax breaks" for ANY corporation. Blame local, state, & federal government, eager to get "them here" so they can crow about it come election time. It's CRONY capitalism, and it stinks! No tax breaks for ANY company, I don't care who they are. Pay the way and stop putting it on the backs of everyone else!
Stealing power is Yet Another Beautiful Thing Amazon Delivered to the world. Yabtad.
That's the way *all* of Big Business operates. It's not restricted to Amazon.
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
I understand the necessity of keeping the bidding process secret, but after the deal is made people should get(want) to see what perks their local government offered and what the expected benefits are.
I can see three ways people could be upset:
1) Govt offered too little and didn't win
2) Govt won but offered too much according to its analysis
3) Govt won but accidentally offered too much due to poor analysis
Could a data center help build other infrastructure such as bandwidth, adjacent businesses that would desire ability to connect high speed/capacity links or other? A stretch but seems even if less likely at least plausible puffing that could be used to better rationalize.
I live and work near an Amazon fullfillment center so I can give you the real world report instead of Bezos's Ayn Rand propaganda.
Amazon drove all our locally owned bookstores (and several chains) out of business, using their tax breaks and taxpayer-funded subsidies to wreck the free market in book sales. Many, many good jobs lost, and at least three multigenerational family businesses killed in our urban centers (where jobs are scarce due to all our factories relocating to China.)
Now when I drive to work, I see the Amazon warehouse workers walking to work. Some of them for miles, because they can't afford cars on Amazon wages. Not and still pay for little Timmy's shoes, anyway.
In a well regulated capitalism, government intervenes in markets to achieve social goals that the market can't provide by itself - for instance, reducing factory air pollution and the medical costs that pushes onto individuals, or eliminating gender and color-line discrimination and the social unrest that those foster.
In crony capitalism or oligarchy, government intervenes in markets to fatten the wallets and egos of a ruling class. There's no attempt to make the market fair, although typically there's a lot of obvious lies about making the market free, and social goals are mocked if acknowledged at all.
Guess which kind of capitalism we have?
Ignore tax incentives, that is basically a tax break that does not cost tax payer any money. City/state still yields a net gain all things considered.
The electricity costs is on the politicians who approved it. They are spending tax payer money, so neither Amazon nor the politicians care. Just like how Government gives the Union way to much, because they are spending other people's money, not their own.