As the debate over artificial intelligence data centers continues across the Pittsburgh region, many residents have taken to meetings to raise concerns over potential loud noise and issues with water usage.

Another issue that concerns people is power usage and how the centers could strain the grid. State Sen. Lindsey Williams says she plans to introduce legislation to address that.

The legislation would require data centers to contribute to Pennsylvania's universal service programs and pay for the electric grid upgrades made for their benefit.

"Together, these changes would help mitigate the impact of the rising prices caused by data centers and lower utility costs for existing residential consumers," a memo from Williams said.

The memo cites data from PJM, a regional grid ope

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