British Columbia proposed legislation to limit how much electricity will be available to artificial intelligence data centers, and moved to permanently ban new cryptocurrency mining projects.
The government of Canada’s third-most populous province will prioritize connections to its power grid for other purposes like mines and natural gas facilities because they provide more jobs and revenue for people in BC, the energy ministry said Monday.
“Other jurisdictions have been challenged to address electricity demands from emerging sectors and, in many cases, have placed significant rate increases on the backs of ratepayers,” the department said Monday.
That’s a reference to US states like Virginia and Maryland, where a proliferation of the power-hungry data centers needed for AI appears to be pushing up citizens’ power bills, according to a Bloomberg analysis. BC “is receiving significant requests for power” from these industries, Energy Minister Adrian Dix said at a press conference.
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That ignores the profit motive behind those purchases. The increase in price will simply be passed along to the customer, and have no impact on how much power is used. It will simply get more expensive.
For bitcoin, the price of electricity directly impacts your profitability. You actually turn the miners off at a certain price point because they will lose you money. There’s no customer to pass it on to.
For AI, the companies are not profitable right now anyways, price for electricity will absolutely impact usage rates.
Besides, when we’re talking about grid collapse you’re referring to things like extreme weather events, you don’t need a ban to just turn off an AI datacenter for three days during a massive winter storm or heat dome.