Data centers can affect nearby communities through the electricity system, local water demand, and persistent noise—but the size and distribution of those effects depend on the utility’s rate rules, the site’s cooling and sound-control design, and local conditions. A facility pays for electricity under its service arrangement; households may still share some system costs when utilities build generation or transmission to serve new demand. Water use varies widely, and noise is not a problem at every site.
Can a data center make your electricity bill go up?
Possibly, but not through a simple one-to-one charge on nearby households. A data center pays for the electricity it uses under its applicable service and rate arrangement. The indirect question is how the utility funds the generation, transmission, and other system resources needed to serve large new loads—and how approved rates allocate those costs among customer classes.
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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Policy identifies fair cost allocation, stranded-asset risk, resource adequacy, and supply options as central issues in rate design for large loads. If new infrastructure is needed, who pays can depend on the rate structure, whether equipment is dedicated to a project, how demand forecasts compare with actual demand, and whether supply is available when the load arrives. The DOE discusses these issues in Electricity Rate Designs for Large Loads: Evolving Practices and Opportunities (January 17, 2025).
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What Virginia’s forecast does—and does not—say
Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) found that existing rates appropriately allocate current costs to the customers responsible for them, including data centers. It also warned that growing demand and investment in new infrastructure could put upward pressure on costs across the system.
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JLARC estimated that a typical Dominion Energy residential customer could face an additional $14–$37 per month in generation- and transmission-related costs by 2040, in constant dollars. This is a Virginia-specific forecast, not a bill increase already observed, a prediction for every Dominion customer, or a national estimate. The finding appears in JLARC’s Data Centers in Virginia report, published in 2025.
Fairfax County draws a useful distinction for residents: they do not directly pay for the electricity consumed by a data center, but may pay a portion of energy-infrastructure improvements needed to support new demand. The county says utility rates depend on usage and customer class and are reviewed by Virginia’s State Corporation Commission; the county itself does not set utility rates or control transmission.
How can a data center affect local water supplies?
There is no reliable single “gallons per data center” figure. Water demand depends on facility size, computing density, cooling design, and the period being measured. It also matters whether a figure describes water withdrawn from a source or water consumed rather than returned. A large annual total does not by itself show how much pressure a particular facility puts on a local supply.
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What Virginia evidence shows
JLARC reports that most Virginia data centers use about the same amount of water as, or less than, an average large office building. Some facilities use substantially more, while others use less than a typical household. Most obtain water from local utilities. Virginia regulates large water withdrawals, but JLARC notes less oversight over how available water is shared among local uses.
What is known in Fairfax County
Fairfax County says exact data-center water-use information for the county has been private, limiting precise local accounting. The county cites a regional estimate of less than 100,000 gallons per day for data centers across the Potomac River basin, with consumptive use below 0.1% of the cited upstream total. Those figures describe the basin, not Fairfax County alone.
The county also reports that around 40% of regional data centers use air cooling. A 2026 Virginia law is expected to require water companies to report total industry water use starting January 1, 2027; the county says more detailed information is expected after the requirement takes effect. Until then, residents may not be able to compare a proposed facility’s demand with a precise, publicly disclosed county-wide total.
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Why cooling design and local conditions matter
Ask whether a proposal relies on air cooling or water-based cooling, what its peak and annual water demand would be, and where the water would come from. The same amount of use can have different consequences in places with different supplies, competing users, and scarcity. A water-use figure without its source, time period, and measurement basis is not enough to assess local stress.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFor perspective only, Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources minister Andrew Charlton stated in a 2026 speech that Australian data centers used an estimated seven gigalitres of cooling water in 2024–25, about 0.04% of total Australian industrial water consumption. He also said closed-loop designs use up to ten times less water than open-loop predecessors and are 5–15% more energy efficient. These are attributed Australian estimates and claims from a ministerial speech, not universal performance figures for all facilities or cooling systems.
Will a nearby data center be noisy?
It may be, but proximity alone does not establish that a site will cause a noise problem. Virginia JLARC found that a large majority of data centers do not generate noise complaints, often because of their location or design. It also found that some nearby residents report effects on well-being. In its 2025 report, JLARC writes: “The constant nature of data center noise has sometimes been a problem when data centers are located near residential areas.”
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The concern can be continuous, low-frequency sound rather than only brief, obviously loud events. JLARC says conventional noise ordinances often focus on short-lived loud sounds and may not address persistent low-frequency noise well. Sound modeling before construction and zoning limits that use appropriate low-frequency measures are among the tools it identifies.
What local review can address
Fairfax County says it requires noise studies for data-center development in relevant cases and uses zoning, siting distance, visual screening, design rules, and public hearings to manage impacts. Which requirements apply depends on the site and zoning district. A useful acoustic study should address the proposed equipment, its expected operating pattern—including nighttime operation—and low-frequency sound, not just a broad estimate of average noise.
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If you are documenting a concern, a sound meter that can capture low-frequency sound may help make approximate personal records. Such readings do not establish a code violation and are not a substitute for calibrated professional monitoring.
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Who pays for the power lines and water infrastructure?
There is no single answer for every project. A utility may fund shared system upgrades through regulated rates, while a customer may pay for some project-specific service or equipment under its arrangement. The allocation can affect whether costs are borne by the data center, other utility customers, or both. The DOE’s rate-design framework emphasizes avoiding unfair cost shifts while also considering the risk of building infrastructure that may be underused if forecast demand does not materialize.
Water infrastructure is also local: a facility may receive water through a municipal utility, so the relevant questions include available system capacity, the source of supply, and how the utility plans to serve additional demand. The cited Virginia and Fairfax County materials describe water use and oversight, but do not establish one general cost-allocation rule for water infrastructure across jurisdictions.
How to assess a proposed facility in your community
For a local proposal, look for project-specific information rather than relying on a national average or a single headline figure. The following questions help distinguish measurable impacts from assumptions:
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- Electricity: What is the projected load, and does the utility show adequate generation and transmission? Which upgrades are dedicated to the project, which are shared, and how are their costs assigned in utility filings or rate schedules?
- Water: What are peak demand and annual use? Is the figure a withdrawal or consumption estimate? What is the source, what cooling method is proposed, and how will use be disclosed?
- Noise: How far is the site from homes? Is there acoustic modeling that addresses low-frequency sound and nighttime operation? What measurable limits and enforcement conditions would apply?
- Local process: Which zoning, permits, or site approvals apply? When are public hearings scheduled, and can noise, water, or infrastructure conditions be made enforceable?
Fairfax County describes noise studies, zoning, siting distance, public hearings, and substation review as parts of its local planning context. For electricity costs, residents can look to utility filings and rate schedules and to the State Corporation Commission’s review process; the county says rate-setting and transmission are state-level responsibilities.
What are the local benefits, and how are they distributed?
Impacts are not the whole economic picture. JLARC estimated that Virginia’s data-center industry contributed 74,000 jobs, $5.5 billion in labor income, and $9.1 billion in annual GDP. It found that most of the benefits were associated with construction, that ongoing employment is smaller than in some industries, and that benefits are geographically concentrated. These are Virginia-specific estimates from JLARC’s 2025 review, not a forecast of gains for every town that approves a facility.
The evidence does not support a universal ranking of electricity, water, and noise impacts. A site’s likely effects depend on utility rules, available supply, cooling and acoustic design, and local planning conditions.
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