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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.
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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.
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!
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Seriously though - (simplified) company puts electric rates into giant spreadsheet, sorts spreadsheet by price, opens datacenter in one of the cheapest places.
EVIL!
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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"?
Have gnu, will travel.
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.
Jesus tits you are tiresome drinkypoo.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
... 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.
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
That's not what they did though. They got the power company and the relevant PSC to sign off on hiking residential rates to pay for the installation of an additional transmission line to service the datacenter.
If you or I wanted a higher capacity feed, we'd get the bill for the installation.
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.
They got the power company and the relevant PSC to sign off on hiking residential rates to pay for the installation of an additional transmission line to service the datacenter.
And if they didn't, they would have gone to the next-cheapest item on the list. This is a problem with the local politicians and regulatory agencies, not with Amazon. I mean, unless there is bribery or other shenanigans taking place.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.