By May 2027, Liberty Utilities’ agreement with NV Energy will come to an end. NV Energy’s power will be redirected elsewhere in Nevada, where data centers have been booming.

Both Liberty Utilities and NV Energy have said the wind-down has been long planned, and NV Energy said data centers aren’t to blame. But it’s hard to see how they don’t play a role. NV Energy alone has requests for more than 22 gigawatts of load, which as a Bloomberg report points out, is more than 40x what Lake Tahoe uses at its peak.

If data centers weren’t in play, it’s easy to see a world in which Liberty Utilities and NV Energy renew their contract. But with data center customers willing to pay whatever it takes to get electricity, it was inevitable that traditional customers in Lake Tahoe would be left out in the cold.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Energy markets are harsh environments these days, squeezed by surging demand and tightened supplies made worse by the Trump administration’s decision to attack Iran.