theSIGNAL TECHNOLOGY
8 July 2026
"The grid is the great equaliser — until it isn't."
NEWSBUSINESSTECHNOLOGYWORLDSCIENCECULTUREENVIRONMENTSPORT
Photo: yasin hemmati / Unsplash
Steel workers operate an electric arc furnace inside a Rust Belt mill facing sharply higher energy bills.
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$329.17
PJM capacity price per megawatt-day in 2026
Discuss
  • Why might a government simultaneously support two industries whose needs directly conflict with each other?
  • Is it fair that older manufacturers should pay higher electricity costs to support the growth of new technology companies?
  • What infrastructure investments would be needed to allow both heavy industry and data centres to operate without competing for power?
  • If you were advising the US government, which energy users would you prioritise on the grid, and on what grounds?
Technology

AI's Hunger for Power Is Killing Rust Belt Factories

As data centres devour electricity across thirteen US states, the factories that Trump promised to save are paying the price.

In Dover, Ohio, a 141-year-old brick company called Belden Brick recently opened its monthly electricity bill and found a number that had changed almost beyond recognition: $12,000, up from $1,600. No new kilowatts had been added, no extra shifts run. What had changed was the capacity charge levied across the thirteen-state grid region managed by PJM Interconnection — the largest power grid operator in the United States — where surging demand from artificial intelligence data centres has pushed wholesale electricity prices to levels not seen in years. The numbers are stark.

PJM's capacity prices — the fees paid to power generators to ensure supply meets projected demand — climbed from $28. 92 per megawatt-day in 2024 to $329. 17 per megawatt-day in 2026, an increase of more than 1,000 percent in two years. For heavy industry, whose profit margins are already thin, that trajectory is not merely uncomfortable; it is potentially fatal.

The Steel Manufacturers Association has warned that Rust Belt steelmakers are absorbing tens of millions of dollars in additional annual energy costs. Ohio-based steelmaker Metallus reported that its electricity bill has risen by 70 percent since 2024, translating into $15 million in extra expenditure every year. Since electricity accounts for between 20 and 40 percent of steel production costs, the squeeze is structural, not incidental. The deeper irony is political.

President Donald Trump has championed both the AI data centre boom and a "Made in America" manufacturing revival, yet the two ambitions are now pulling directly against each other on the same grid. Data centres do generate demand for steel — roughly one million tons per year for construction alone — but that benefit may be outweighed by the energy costs they impose on the very mills producing that steel. What this tension reveals is something broader than one president's contradictory priorities: the electrical grid, built for an industrial age, was never designed to host two energy-hungry revolutions at once, and nobody yet knows who will be asked to pay for the upgrade.

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Electricity accounts for 20 to 40 percent of the total production costs of making steel.
Steel Manufacturers Association, industry warning to PJM regulators
Technology

Meta's AI Image Tool Raises Consent Alarms

When Meta quietly embedded a feature inside its new Muse image generator that lets any user remix a stranger's public Instagram photos with AI, without notifying that person, privacy advocates did not need long to react. Muse — built by Meta Superintelligence Labs and already available on Instagram, WhatsApp, and the Meta AI app — offers genuinely useful tools: interior-design mockups, ad creation, and QR-code generation. Yet one function stands apart. A user need only tag a public account, and Muse will incorporate that person's likeness into a generated image.
  • Should users have to opt out of AI remixing, or opt in?
Technology

ABC Warns FCC Is Sitting in Editor's Chair

When the FCC began questioning whether The View qualifies as a "bona fide" news programme, it set off a chain reaction across American broadcast media. Stephen Colbert's Late Show quietly blocked a political interview; The View stopped hosting candidates altogether. ABC has now written directly to the FCC, arguing that the agency is selecting targets "perceived as unfriendly to the current administration" — a pattern, the network says, that corrodes editorial independence regardless of which party holds power. The stakes extend well beyond one daytime talk show.
  • Should a government agency ever decide which TV programmes count as real news?
AMERICAS · Technology
White House deletes thousands of web pages about energy conservation as heatwave slams US
WORLD · Technology
AI altering meaning of users’ drafts on issues from abortion to climate, study finds
ASIA · Technology
China wants to solve the hardest problem in robotics – making hands
OCEANIA · Technology
Doctors’ soaring use of AI scribes prompts Australian government warning over privacy
theSIGNAL IN THE LAB
1VOCABULARY
capacity chargewholesale electricity prices
profit marginseditorial independencebona fide
likenessopt-out
2GRAMMAR FOCUS
Dependent prepositions — verb/adjective + preposition patterns
Many verbs and adjectives in English are followed by a fixed preposition that cannot be changed; for example, 'account for', 'absorbed by', and 'responsible for' always require the same preposition regardless of context.
for · from · of · into · by · against · on
  1. Electricity costs account between 20 and 40 percent of steel production expenses, making energy prices a structural concern for manufacturers.
  2. Ohio-based steelmaker Metallus reported that its electricity bill has risen $1,600 to $12,000 in just two years.
  3. ABC warned that the FCC appears to be selecting targets perceived as unfriendly the current administration.
  4. Privacy advocates argue that the burden of protection falls entirely the photographed person, not the content creator.
  5. The Steel Manufacturers Association warned that Rust Belt steelmakers are absorbing tens millions of dollars in additional energy costs each year.
  6. The two political ambitions are now pulling directly each other on the same electrical grid.
3DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS
Complete each phrase with the correct preposition. All from today's articles.
  1. Electricity accounts ___ between 20 and 40 percent of steel production costs.
  2. The burden of protection falls ___ the photographed, not the creator.
  3. PJM capacity prices climbed ___ $28.92 to $329.17 per megawatt-day.
  4. The network argued that the FCC was selecting targets perceived ___ unfriendly to the administration.
  5. Muse is already available ___ Instagram, WhatsApp, and the Meta AI app.
4CRITICAL THINKING
All three stories involve powerful institutions — a grid operator, a federal regulator, and a tech giant — making decisions that affect ordinary people without their meaningful input. What does this pattern suggest about who actually controls the systems that shape daily life, and what practical mechanisms could give individuals or smaller businesses genuine leverage?
5CREATIVE · HEADLINES
Write a headline for the top story in each of the following styles. One line each, no explanation:
  • TABLOID NEWSPAPER
  • LUXURY MAGAZINE
  • ACTIVIST BLOG
6WRITING
A Belden Brick employee has worked at the Ohio factory for 25 years and has just learned it may close due to rising energy costs. Write their letter to a local senator, making a specific argument about whose interests the grid should serve.
7DEGREES OF EXTREMITY
Complete each ladder from mild to strong using words from the articles.
  • noticeable→→
  • went up→→
  • disagreement→→
  • concerned→→
  • discomfort→→
  • mentioned→→
8SPEAKING
  1. Who ultimately bears responsibility when grid capacity costs harm manufacturers?
  2. Could data centres ever be designed to actually support heavy industry nearby?
  3. How should courts decide when editorial independence ends and political bias begins?
  4. What protections should exist specifically for people with smaller public followings online?