---
title: "Early-termination fee: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH"
source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/early-termination-fee
description: "Early-termination fee: The fee a customer owes if it leaves a power contract before its term. At Hyperion a Meta Platforms guarantee backs it."
---

# Early-termination fee

What does “Early-termination fee” mean?

Early-termination feeThe fee a customer owes if it leaves a power contract before its term. At Hyperion a Meta Platforms guarantee backs it. The fee protects only the original estimate for the generation and transmission, while the minimum bill is recalculated so that the customer pays the plants’ actual cost. *Chapter 6.*

From *The AI Compute Race*. [Read the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#buy)

## Where the book uses it

- [Chapter 6 — Firm, Around-the-Clock](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-6)Where the electricity comes from: grid queues, transformers, turbines and the firm power a datacenter needs every hour of the year, on calendars the buildout does not control.

## Where the record uses it

- Dated test [Chapter 6, the overrun gap, due 31 December 2028](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests#2028-11)

## Related terms

- [Minimum bill](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/minimum-bill)
- [Hyperion](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/hyperion)
- [Backstop](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/backstop)
- [Batch Zero](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/batch-zero)
- [Behind the meter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/behind-the-meter)
- [Beignet](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/beignet)
- [Bridge power](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/bridge-power)
- [Capacity auction](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/capacity-auction)
- [Combined-cycle](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/combined-cycle)
- [Curtailment](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/curtailment)
- [Demand response](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/demand-response)
- [ERCOT](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/ercot)

From the glossary of The AI Compute Race.

- [Campuses](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger)
- [Tests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests)
- [Scorecard](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard)
- [Data](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/data/releases)
- [Chapter by chapter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/companion)
- [The record at a glance](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/observatory)
- [The machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/machine)
- [One campus, four futures](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/hyperion)
- [Glossary](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary)
- [People](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people)
- [Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources)
- [Notes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes)
- [Where the book was wrong](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/corrections)
- [Where its sources were wrong](https://dryburgh.com/corrections?book=vol1)
- [The Paper](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/paper)
- [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/consent)
- [Who builds and pays](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/parties)

*The AI Compute Race: Five Races, One Machine* is a book by Lee S. Dryburgh, the first volume of THE COMPUTE ECONOMY, published by Dryburgh, an imprint of Contestra OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia; its record closes on 8 November 2026.

[About the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1)[Tell me when it is out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#notify)