The Real Costs of Marijuana Legalization “Vote No”

George Orwell said, “in a time of Universal deceit speaking the truth is a revolutionary act.”

The consequences of marijuana legalization are not just medical, they will affect every household in our state. Indoor marijuana cultivation is one of the most energy- and water-intensive agricultural activities on the planet, and regular ratepayers in legalized states are absorbing the costs through higher utility rates, grid instability, and strained water systems.

How Much Energy Does Growing Indoor Marijuana Use? The numbers are almost hard to believe. An indoor grow module accommodating just four plants uses as much electricity as 29 refrigerators. (1)Growing four pounds of marijuana at an indoor facility can consume as much electricity as the average American home uses in an entire year. Compared with a typical office building, indoor marijuana growers are about 10 times as energy intensive on a square footage basis.

What Actually Happened to the Grid in Legalized States? Indoor marijuana cultivation energy demand rivals that of AI data centers. With energy intensities around 2,000 watts per minute, they can consume between 50 and 200 times more than an average office building and 66 times more than an average home. (4) A typical commercial facility requires between 2,000 and 3,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per pound of flower produced. (7)

Why So Much Energy? Cannabis grown indoors requires a controlled environment that mimics perfect growing conditions 24 hours a day. It is typically grown indoors to better control temperature, lighting, and moisture levels. However, indoor grow facilities use eighteen times more energy than outdoor facilities because the plants require continuous lighting and specific atmospheric conditions. (2) Cannabis producers typically provide between 18-24 hours of light per day to encourage quick and dense foliage growth lasting from 4-8 weeks. (1)

Indoor grow lamps produce large amounts of heat, requiring air conditioning systems to keep warehouses cool. Commercial-scale dehumidifiers and water pumps are also necessary for proper irrigation and to mitigate mold growth. (2) So you have high-intensity lighting running 18-24 hours per day, massive air conditioning to counteract the heat from those lights, industrial dehumidifiers running constantly, water pumps and irrigation systems, ventilation and air filtration, and security systems all running simultaneously around the clock, 365 days a year.

The National Scale: Cannabis growth is now responsible for 1% of ALL U.S. electricity consumption per year, and this consumption is expected to increase to 3% by 2035. (2) In California and Washington state, two early adopters of legal marijuana, cannabis-related power consumption accounts for as much as 3% of the state’s total power usage. (5) Total electricity demand from legal marijuana cultivation in the United States was estimated to rise 162% from 2017 to 2022. (8) To put that 1% in perspective that’s roughly equivalent to the electricity used by 1.7 million homes. For a single crop. That percentage is growing rapidly as more states legalize it.

What Actually Happened to the Grid in Legalized States? The Ground Zero Case Study in Denver, Colorado: Denver saw a 45% load growth on its grid following the legalization of marijuana, and the increased electricity demand came from cannabis facilities (2, 5) Growers account for 4% of Denver’s electricity consumption. In Xcel Energy’s territory, marijuana cultivation can account for close to 2% of demand. When the legal industry ramped up, “the issue wasn’t meeting the demand,” but “they often found the systems were not adequate for a 24-hour grow operation. There were growing pains in the first couple of years after it became legal.” (8)

Xcel reported that in some areas of its territory, “certain pockets in the city became warehouse districts for marijuana growing.” Built years ago, for different types of industry, transformers had to be replaced to deliver enough energy. There are now about 500 growing facilities in Xcel’s territory, using between 35,000 MWh and 45,000 MWh annually (8) Those transformer replacements were paid for by the utility and passed on to ratepayers and are a direct cost imposed on all customers by the marijuana industry.

Portland, Oregon Blackouts: Pacific Power Utility of Portland traced 7 blackouts to cannabis production facilities following legalization. (2, 5) Portland General Electric reported that 10% of its transformers needed replacement due to overheating caused by indoor cultivation. (4) Think about the10% of a major utility’s transformer infrastructure needing premature replacement because of one industry. Those replacement costs get folded into rate cases and passed directly to all ratepayers.

What about Small Towns like Oak Creek in Colorado: Oak Creek, Colorado, a public power town of about 1,000 people near Steamboat Springs, welcomed marijuana entrepreneurs including indoor grow operations. The town’s one block light industrial area has five buildings housing ten cannabis businesses, four of which are grow operations. The cannabis business brought a 26% increase in electrical load over a couple of years in a small town from just four grow operations. (6) Now, multiply that across hundreds of communities in legalized states.

Grid Vulnerability: Indoor marijuana cultivators require twenty-four-hour (continuous) energy demand to ensure their product meets the highest control standards. As a result, several utilities in the Pacific Northwest have reported problems with higher incidents of blackouts, equipment failure and replacement in areas with known indoor marijuana cultivation. “Growing weed creates very substantial unplanned power demands upon our already aged distribution grid infrastructure.” (4)

How Does This Translates to Higher Rates for Everyone? This is where it hits your wallet. Utilities don’t eat these costs instead they pass them to ratepayers:

Infrastructure upgrades: When transformers blow out and need replacement, when substations need upgrading, when distribution lines need reinforcement those capital costs go into the utility’s rate base, and every customer pays through higher rates.

Peak demand charges: Many utilities price electricity partly based on peak demand. Grow operations running 24/7 increase peak demand, which increases the per-kilowatt cost for all commercial and industrial customers.

Capacity planning: Utilities need to build or acquire generation capacity to meet demand. When marijuana cultivation adds 2-4% to statewide demand, that requires additional power plants, solar farms, or purchased power that wouldn’t otherwise be needed paid for by all ratepayers.

Grid reliability costs: Blackouts and equipment failures caused by grow operations cost utilities money in emergency repairs, customer rebates, and regulatory penalties all passed through to ratepayers.

Specific Rate Impacts: Some localities have imposed an electricity tariff on growers. Boulder, Colorado, now requires commercial growers to pay $2.16 per kilowatt hour or to use renewable energy systems to reduce their loads. (2) The City of Arcata, California imposed a 45% tax on residences that use more than 600% of the baseline level of energy. (2) That’s a direct response to residential grow operations which increases neighborhood electricity consumption.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, requires cannabis cultivators to generate at least 10% of their power from on-site solar panels. Riverside, California, requires grow houses to generate at least 20% of their power on-site from renewable sources. (5) These local responses should tell you everything about how communities are scrambling to deal with the energy burdens that marijuana cultivation imposes, as state legalization laws never accounted for it.

Energy Cost Per Pound of Product: At the Pacific region average rate of 15.62 cents per kWh (which includes California, Oregon, and Washington), with electricity costs running from $312.40 and $468.60 per pound. In California commercial operators pay 18.44 cents per kWh, costs run between $368.80 and $553.20 per pound.(7) Idaho’s current rate 12.51 cents a kWh.

The Water Problem Growing Commercial Marijuana is Equally Devastating

Consumption Per Plant: On average, a cannabis plant needs six gallons of water per day during most of the five-month growing season. (12, 15) Indoor cultivation used 2.5 gallons per day per plant in August and 2.8 gallons per day per plant in September. (9) On average, indoor cannabis grow facilities use approximately 209 gallons of water per square foot annually for irrigation alone. (10, 11) For a grow room with a 1,000 square foot canopy, growers should be prepared to use 1,000 liters of water each day. (17)

Compaired to Other Crops: The water demand for cannabis growing far exceeds the water needs of many commodity crops. Cannabis in a growing season needs twice as much water as required by maize, soybean, and wheat. (15) As water scarcity continues to be a problem because of agricultural demands and population growth, the higher water needs for cannabis crops will challenge the marijuana and hemp industries while burdening the environment. (9) In June of 2015, Bioscience published a research paper finding that an estimated 22 liters of water or more are consumed per plant per day during the June-to-October growing season. (14)

Where Does That Water Come From: Indoor commercial grow operations in urban areas draw from municipal water systems. These are the same systems that serve residential households, hospitals, schools, and businesses. Unlike outdoor agriculture that typically draws from irrigation canals and wells, indoor urban cultivation competes directly with residential water users for treated municipal water. This means in drought-prone Western states like Colorado, California, Oregon, and Nevada, marijuana cultivation is drawing from already-stressed water supplies. To be sure this new industry will effect Idaho’s water supply? What happens when water districts raise rates to fund infrastructure improvements or conservation programs? Everyone pays, including households that don’t use marijuana.

Medical marijuana studies have estimated that indoor grows require watering in quantities of 40 gallons per room per day, where one room equals 250 square feet (16)A commercial operation with 10,000 square feet of canopy would need 1,600 gallons per day equivalent to the daily water consumption of roughly 16 average American households.

The Runoff and Contamination Problem: It’s not just the volume of water consumed it’s what comes out the other end. Cultivation of cannabis uses significant quantities of nutrients, pesticides, and chemicals that end up in wastewater. Many of the smaller operations discharge this wastewater into municipal sewer systems, increasing treatment costs for water utilities. Illegal grows which remain widespread even in legalized states often dump contaminated water directly into streams and groundwater. Plants transpire or evaporate about 95% of the water they receive, meaning virtually all water given to the crop must be removed from the air through dehumidification adding to the energy burden described above. (17)

The States Most Impacted

Colorado (Legalized 2012)

• 45% of Denver’s grid load growth attributable to cannabis (Pullman & Comley)
• 4% of Denver’s total electricity consumption from grow operations (Utility Dive)
• Boulder imposed $2.16/kWh electricity surcharge on growers (Pullman & Comley)
• Transformer replacements needed across Xcel Energy territory (Utility Dive)
• Water districts in the Front Range already among the most stressed in the West

California (Legalized 2016)

• Up to 3% of statewide electricity consumption from cannabis (Cardinal News)
• Arcata imposed 45% energy tax on high-use residences (Pullman & Comley)
• Riverside requires 20% on-site renewable generation (Cardinal News)
• Beginning in 2022, indoor cultivators were required to report their energy usage, and beginning in 2023, growers were required to ensure their electrical power meets emissions intensity requirements under the California Renewables Portfolio Standard. (4)
• Already in a water crisis cannabis adds to the problem

Oregon (Legalized 2014)

• 7 blackouts attributed to cannabis operations in Portland (2, 5)
• 10% of Portland General Electric transformers needed replacement. (4)
• Energy Trust of Oregon provides rebates and incentives trying to reduce consumption (8)
• Oregon requires cannabis cultivators to forecast their energy needs before beginning operation and then submit annual energy use reports (6)

What Nobody Told Voters Before Legalization: the fundamental problem: not a single state legalization ballot initiative adequately disclosed the energy and water impacts to voters. People voted on marijuana legalization, thinking about personal freedom, criminal justice reform, and tax revenue, not about what it would do to their electric bill and water rates. The proponents promised tax revenue and personal liberty. They didn’t mention:

• That indoor cultivation uses 18 times more energy than outdoor growing
• That a single grow facility can consume as much electricity as a data center
• That 45% of Denver’s grid load growth would come from marijuana
• That transformers would blow out and need premature replacement at ratepayer expense
• That blackouts would result from overloaded distribution systems
• That municipal water systems would face additional strain in drought-prone states
• That the carbon footprint of indoor cannabis cultivation rivals some of the dirtiest industries in the country

Who Pays? The answer is straightforward: every ratepayer in a legalized state pays, whether they use marijuana or not.

When utilities need to replace blown transformers, upgrade substations, build or acquire additional generation capacity, and fund grid reliability improvements all driven partly by cannabis cultivation demand those costs are included in rate cases approved by public utility commissions. The costs are spread across all customers. The marijuana industry itself pays its own electric bills, but those bills don’t cover the full system costs their operations impose on the grid. The infrastructure upgrades, reliability improvements, and capacity additions needed to serve their 24/7 high-intensity loads are costs that will be paid by all ratepayers.

In Conclusion: Marijuana legalization created an industry that is one of the most energy- and water-intensive operations per square foot on the planet, placed that industry inside urban areas drawing from residential electrical grids and municipal water systems, and passed the infrastructure costs on to all ratepayers while disclosing none of this to voters before they cast their ballots.

The next time a state puts marijuana legalization on the ballot, voters should demand answers to one simple question: who pays for the electricity and water this industry will consume, and how much will it add to my utility bill? Based on the evidence from Colorado, California, Oregon, and other early-adopting states, the answer is: you do, and more than you were told. SAY “NO” TO LEGALIZING MARIJUANA IN IDAHO.

Complete Source List

1. Western Energy Institute, “Indoor Agriculture and the Energy Implications for Utilities,” March 13, 2024
2. Pullman & Comley, “Putting the ‘Green’ in Renewable Energy at Cannabis Grow Facilities,” May 19, 2023
3. Electricity Plans, “Power Consumption for Cannabis Growers”
4. Boston University Law Review, “The Energy and Climate Impacts of Indoor Marijuana,” July 2021
5. Cardinal News, “Growing Cannabis Indoors Requires a Lot of Electricity. Here’s What Other States Have Found,” February 22, 2024
6. American Public Power Association, “Utilities Grapple with Growth in Cannabis Legalization,” January 17, 2018
7. TSR Grow, “The Cultivator’s Guide to Controlling Energy Costs,” April 8, 2022
8. Utility Dive, “Marijuana Prices Have Collapsed, Forcing Growers to Focus on Energy Efficiency,” May 1, 2019
9. MJBizDaily, “Cannabis Requires More Water Than Commodity Crops, Researchers Say,” December 18, 2021
10. PHCPP Pros, “Cannabis Grow Facility Design 101, Part 2: Water Usage”
11. Catalyst BC, “Optimizing Water Use in Cannabis Grow Facility Design,” August 1, 2025
12. CannaCon, “Regulations on Water for Commercial Cannabis Cultivation,” January 21, 2025
13. Water Tech Online, “The Cannabis Water Report,” February 11, 2021
14. Cannabis & Tech Today, “How to Solve Cannabis’ Water Problem”
15. PMC/National Institutes of Health, “A Narrative Review on Environmental Impacts of Cannabis Cultivation”
16. Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, “Water Usage,” September 11, 2020
17. Greenhouse Grower, “Ways to Calculate Water Use and Transpiration Rates for Indoor Cannabis Cultivation,” January 14, 2022