Utility Requests for Rate Hikes Double to $29 Billion This Year

US electric companies have asked for $29 billion in rate increases so far this year, more than double their requests for the first half of 2024, according to a new report from energy affordability advocacy group PowerLines.

The rise is driven by the costs of replacing aging infrastructure and powering data centers for AI.

“Utilities are responding to new load by proposing new power plants that generally drive up customer bills,” PowerLines executive director Charles Hua said in an interview.

Ambitious efforts by tech firms to build massive data centers to develop artificial intelligence have collided with customer anger over ...