In Jellico, opening the electric bill has turned into something of a jump-scare for many neighbors. Residents say their statements shot into the high hundreds of dollars after a bitcoin mining data center started operating nearby, with at least one bill climbing above $1,000. The sticker shock has fueled a growing push to find out exactly how the facility is being billed and managed.
Neighbors Say Bills Spiked
Organizers launched a petition after several households reported sudden bill increases. The petition has 687 signatures, and organizers say they plan to bring it to the city council. Petition founder Molly Ervin Caudill told local reporters she first noticed changes last October and that her most recent statement showed a balance in the high hundreds, with a larger total due coming in early April. Neighbors near Douglas Lane said other recent bills topped $600, which helped spur the call for a formal review, as reported by WATE.
Company and Utility Respond
CleanSpark, the operator tied to the Jellico site, disclosed in a 2024 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it acquired multiple Tennessee bitcoin mining entities, including assets linked to Jellico, as part of a deal that allocated 25 megawatts to Jellico and neighboring West Crossville. Company disclosures show CleanSpark assumed real property leases and power agreements when it bought the regional assets and lists Tennessee as a core expansion market. In those filings, the Jellico operation is framed as one piece of a broader state portfolio and power strategy.
What Officials Are Saying
Local utility and company officials have pushed back on the idea that the data center is driving up rates for everyone else, saying the facility actually helps keep local pricing steadier. "Customer costs are based on kilowatts by hours of usage (kwh) and kwh increased sharply due to extreme cold weather," Jellico Utilities Authority president Joe Carroll said. CleanSpark’s chief business officer also told residents the operation is helping stabilize rates, according to WATE.
Broader Power Concerns
Experts and federal analysts say the Jellico fight fits into a much larger national debate over how fast data centers and crypto mines are plugging into the grid. A Carnegie Mellon University modeling brief found that, without policy changes, rapid growth in data centers and cryptocurrency mining could raise wholesale generation costs by about 8% nationally by 2030. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has estimated that cryptocurrency mining likely represented roughly 0.6% to 2.3% of U.S. electricity use in its recent analysis. Taken together, those studies warn that concentrated demand can push older, costlier power plants back into service and leave households to absorb higher bills unless regulators and utilities adjust rate design and cost allocation (Carnegie Mellon University; U.S. Energy Information Administration).
What’s Next
Organizers say they will take the petition to the city council and ask officials to review how the utility and the data center interact on power contracts and billing. Jellico Utilities posts board meeting notices, rules, and customer contact information on its website for residents who want meeting dates or need to file complaints, and council consideration of the petition will determine whether the town seeks outside analysis, contract disclosures, or other remedies.
