Overview
- PowerLines, which analyzed 51 investor-owned utilities, reported Tuesday that companies serving about 250 million customers plan $1.4 trillion in five-year grid spending, a jump of more than 20% from 2025 projections.
- A majority of utilities cited AI and cloud data centers as top drivers for new investment, with MIT estimating data centers used over 4% of U.S. electricity in 2023 and could reach 9% by 2030.
- These capital plans still need approval from state utility commissions, and regulators approved 64% of spending requests from 2021 to 2025 after utilities sought a record $31 billion in rate hikes last year.
- PowerLines warns that utilities often recover construction costs through rates, which could raise monthly bills, and a prior analysis found 56 million Americans already facing higher charges from 2025 approvals.
- Transmission and distribution work that moves power across lines and into neighborhoods makes up nearly half of the planned spending, and even when data center developers pay for new power plants, they do not always cover those grid upgrades.