With the local election on the horizon, district and mayoral candidates are getting their messages out to voters. A hot topic among the candidates’ political rhetoric has been rising utility rates and how they relate to the ongoing data center boom.
Demand for energy, driven largely by the rise of AI, has exploded. Consequently, the city’s power company, Silicon Valley Power (SVP), has been expanding and Nico Procos, SVP’s director, said his department expects the trend to continue. According to the city, load capacity has risen 25% since 2019.
To accommodate that load growth, $459 million in planned expansion is set to double the city’s energy capacity.
But that expansion has correlated with a 56% increase in residents’ power bills over the past decade. Three of the mayoral candidates — Council Members Kevin Park and Karen Hardy and former council member Kathy Watanabe — sat on the city council at various times during that span.
Since 2016, SVP has increased its rates 11 times. The only year since then that SVP didn’t propose a rate increase was 2018. However, 2023 saw the council approve two rate increases.
The three mayoral candidates have nearly identical voting records on utility rate increases.
Hardy supported all eight rate increases during her eight years on the council — 3% in 2020, 2021 and 2022, 8% and 5% in 2023, 10% in 2024, 5% in 2025 and another 4% this year.
Going back to 2017, Watanabe supported all nine proposed rate increases during her tenure, voting in favor of a 3% increase that year and another 2% increase in 2019. While she was not on the council for the 2026 rate increase, she joined Hardy in supporting the remaining increases.
Of the eight increases during Park’s tenure, he favored seven. Park was not on the council for the 2019 increase, and he joined Mayor Lisa Gillmor in dissenting on the 2026 increase.
Those votes mean that during their tenures, Watanabe’s votes increased rates by 50.4%, Hardy’s increased rates 48.8% and Park’s votes increased rates 39%.
The first nine votes on rate increases were unanimous, but the last three were not. The 2026 vote was the only one to have two dissenters. And who opposed the most recent increase is telling. While on the dais, Park and Gillmor often butt heads, indicating that the issue may transcend political alliances and that overall sentiment toward the viability of continued rate hikes may be wavering.
Park has repeatedly been vocal that the system expansion is coming on residents’ backs, pointing to the city’s energy boom as it continues to add data centers while population has remained relatively flat.
And he isn’t alone in his frustration. Earlier this month, Hardy announced she plans to propose a moratorium on new data center construction and utility permits at the Oct. 7 city council meeting.
“Silicon Valley is the geographic birthplace of the data center industry, but the intense computing demands of modern AI have brought local infrastructure to a breaking point,” according to the press release. “The ordinance directly addresses mounting concerns over the reliability of Silicon Valley Power (SVP), rising household electricity expenses, residential air and noise pollution, and immense resource strain.”
During his campaign, Eric Crutchlow, a candidate for the District 3 seat that Hardy will vacate in November, has also detailed a desire to institute a moratorium on new data center construction.
Additionally, the ordinance Hardy proposed would prevent city officials from entering into agreements that require a non-disclosure agreement with private tech developers, branded a “ban on secret deals.”
“This targets a growing national trend where institutional investors and tech giants utilize ironclad secrecy agreements with municipal authorities to shield hyperscale tech projects from public scrutiny and environmental reviews before local zoning deadlines,” according to the release.
The Weekly put the utility rate question to all the candidates in a Q&A. For more detailed information about each candidate’s position on SVP’s rates and data centers, visit our 2026 Mayoral Candidates page.
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com