No special treatment for Data Centers from Berkshire | Greg Abel | Berkshire Annual Meeting 2026

These users of the hyperscalers, the data centers, and the users of the energy, they have to bear their full cost. I would highlight it's not new to us. If you just go across the river a little bit east to Iowa, we serve just under 50% of that state. If you look at the number of data centers and hyperscalers in that state, it's very significant. We have four very large hyperscalers data centers there or builders of them. And when I think of energy, the Berkshire Hathaway Energy Group, what's the challenge? It's what I call the regulatory compact.

If I move to energy now and provide an update there, I'm just going to touch on the opportunity first and then come to the challenges. Because as I've just discussed technology, that's the opportunity in energy. One of the core inputs to all those data centers, hyperscalers associated with artificial intelligence, is energy. Our businesses have that opportunity in front of them at Berkshire Hathaway Energy. And yes, we're pursuing them and we'll do it — I'll touch on it in a way we view it's the right approach for both our states and our customers. But I would highlight it's not new to us. If you just go across the river a little bit east to Iowa, we serve just under 50% of that state. If you look at the number of data centers and hyperscalers in that state, it's very significant. We have four very large hyperscalers data centers there or builders of them. And ultimately their customers using it. But if I look at our peak load, i.e. the amount of energy being used from those data centers, it's at 8% of their peak load. And the only reason I highlight that 8% is when I hear people in the industry and all the utilities around us, a lot of states, they're talking about this great opportunity. And jeez, hopefully in the next 5 years they'll be from a relatively starting point. They want to get to the 5 to 10%. And we're already at 8. And we see opportunities to grow that by 50% over the next 5 years or potentially more. But we'll do it in a way — and you're starting here more and more of this across the US — we'll do it in a way where we're not going to impact the cost of our other customers. These users of the i.e. those the hyperscalers, the data centers and the users of the energy, they have to bear their full cost. We can't transfer that burden across all our other customers. And that's a principle we've applied across all our utilities from the very early goings when we're building these data centers. And I would highlight I think our team's doing an exceptional job of that. If I again go back to Mid-American, if you look at their with all the data centers and hyperscalers and then the infrastructure they put in place, their rates are still 45% below the national average. That's just unheard of. It's an exceptional outcome. And it just highlights they're doing the right things when they build this infrastructure or it's a part of it. And we would highlight we have similar positive outcomes across the rest of our utilities. And when I think of the Berkshire Hathaway Energy Group, what's the challenge? It's what I call the regulatory compact. We leave your capital, our owner's capital, Berkshire's capital in these businesses, and often a portion of the earnings that they generate, we may reinvest back into those businesses. And for that, we get a very specific set of return. And it's a fair — over the long run, it's been a very balanced and fair return. But how do you measure that? It's versus the risks we take on in that business. And that's the compact. Okay, you're going to pay us X% return, and what risks are you asking us to take? And that model has worked very good for a number of years and for centuries. But the problem is it's becoming more stressed. If you think of inflation, if you think of the data center challenges, but I strongly believe we're managing that separately. And then you move to assets that are 60 to 100 years old that are starting to retire, and we bring those into the network. The challenge is every day to get more efficient, more effective from the operational side. But as a regulator, as a governor, you're very focused on 'I don't want my rates to go up. I don't want to take on more risk.' They want to transfer that back to us. The challenge is when you talk about the hyperscalers and the data centers, it's putting a lot of pressure on the system, and there'll be a — If you look at the amount of gas units purchased, there'll be an incremental amount of carbon units used as we go forward, if that's going to be a valued — if artificial intelligence and the consumers want that. And that's a valued product. It's going to put a lot of pressure on the systems and on the type of assets we use and the industry uses.