The relationship between data centers and the electricity grid has always involved a degree of financial complexity that site selection and development teams managed as a procurement function rather than a strategic discipline. Operators negotiated utility contracts, sized backup generation systems, and structured power purchase agreements within a framework that treated grid power as the primary supply and on-site generation as a contingency measure. That framework made commercial sense when grid power was reliable, affordable, and available at the capacities that data center loads required. The AI infrastructure buildout has strained all three of those conditions simultaneously, and the operators who are responding most effectively are the ones who have reconceptualized their energy procurement strategy around behind-the-meter generation as a primary supply source rather than a backup resource.