When Microsoft was searching the country for a location for its new installation, the Grant County Public Utility District, which owns two of the dams, says it offered the company rates that would range from 2.5 cents to 3.8 cents per kilowatt-hour in its first five years — far below the national industrial average of 6 cents to 7 cents, according to analysis based on federal figures by the Electric Power Research Institute. The power from dams is also highly reliable, a critical factor for data centers, which can crash with the slightest interruption.

Beyond power, Washington State has awarded the industry lucrative tax breaks, ostensibly to promote growth in rural areas. Although the initial expectations that private fortunes would be made on land sales and housing developments were quickly dashed, Quincy’s revenue from property taxes, which data centers do pay, has risen from $815,250 in 2005 to a projected $3.6 million this year, paying for a library and repaved streets, among other benefits, according to Tim Snead, the city administrator.

A New Era Begins

The ribbon cutting on April 16, 2007, for Microsoft’s “server farm,” as the buildings containing thousands of modular computers or servers are often called, had all the trappings of a proud civic unveiling, with speeches by area dignitaries. Michael Manos, the company’s general manager for data center services at the time, walked away with a small bag of beans from the field’s final crop. It carried a message: “Preparing the Site for Another Farmer: Microsoft.”

“We thought that Microsoft would bring a certain air of class to our town,” said Danna Dal Porto, a retired teacher.

Just three days after the ribbon cutting, Microsoft began flexing its muscle. Mr. Manos wrote to the utility commissioners complaining that they were slow in building a substation to provide 48 million watts of electrical capacity to Microsoft. That would be enough to power about 29,000 American homes, according to an analysis based on federal figures conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute — about four homes for every person in Quincy.

Mr. Manos said the pace of construction “dramatically affects our agility as a business,” adding that “our confidence is becoming quite shaky.” If construction could not be accelerated, Mr. Manos asked, would Microsoft be eligible for $700,000 in reimbursements?

Some local officials were taken aback at what Mr. Culbertson, the former utility general manager, called “a level of arrogance.”