Duke Energy serves customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky — and has a $103 billion five-year spending plan, the largest of any regulated U.S. utility. The South makes up the largest portion of utility capex plans, with about $572 billion planned for https://fasthips.com/data-driven-decision-making.html the region, followed by the Midwest ($272 billion), the West ($225 billion) and the Northeast ($195 billion). Because some projects span regions, the totals do not match the national spend, according to the report. “These investments are essential to keeping the system reliable and as affordable as possible over the long term,” Drew Maloney, president and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents IOUs, said in a statement to Utility Dive.
What’s Happening to Electricity Affordability? in Five Charts
Customers who are due to renew will receive a robocall, email and renewal reminder postcards in the mail. Once contacted, customers must call the UDP office within five business days to begin the renewal process by completing a renewal form (print or online) to provide updated information the household’s current status, including providing supporting documents. UDP customers will receive a 60% discount on future Seattle City Light bills and a 50% discount on future Seattle Public Utilities bills.
Emboldened Virginia Democrats focus on clean energy, affordability
The spending costs will rise much higher if the utilities are reactive instead of proactive in their efforts to support growth and harden the grid, Sideris said. In a change affecting data centers, the bill changes the state’s definition of “large load customer” by reducing the minimum aggregate monthly demand threshold to 25 MW from 100 MW and lowering the minimum load factor to 60% from 80%. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on Wednesday canceled the agreement it reached with PJM Interconnection in 2021 to develop wires and substations necessary to send electricity generated by offshore wind across the state. The board terminated this agreement because much of New Jersey’s expected offshore wind capacity has either been canceled by developers or indefinitely stalled by President Donald Trump, including the now-scrapped TotalEnergies projects scrubbed in a settlement with his administration. Asked whether he is focused more on electricity rates (the amount a customer pays per kilowatt-hour) or bills (the amount a utility charges a ratepayer), Reynolds said both are important.
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The debate continues over whether the existing gas infrastructure is a bridge to a clean energy future or an anchor holding the state back. While the SoCalGas report paints a picture of declining gas costs, it stands in stark contrast to the trajectory of electricity prices in California. Over the same period, residential electricity rates have been on a steady incline, driven by a confluence of factors that complicate the state’s energy affordability puzzle. The Affordability Ratio (AR) metric quantifies the percentage of a representative household’s income that would be used to pay for an essential utility service, after non-discretionary expenses such as housing and other essential utility service charges are deducted from the household’s income. The AR may be calculated for a single essential utility service, a combination of services, or all essential utility services combined. To best understand how essential utility service charges impact lower-income households, the proceeding specifically examines AR20, which represents the household with income at the 20th percentile in a given geography.
Oil and natural gas production have reached record-high numbers in the country, but that won’t stop energy from taking center stage at the midterms. Our industry needs to consider rate design as a means for immediate bill relief and begin viewing customers as part of the solution to long-term affordability, but it’s easier said than done. The stress from all sides is real and comes to a head in the industry’s obligation to provide customers with safe, reliable, and affordable service. This edition addresses both traditional and innovative utility financing alternatives to meet both short-and long-term capital requirements.
Eligible households can enroll in the City of Seattle’s Utility Discount Program (UDP), which offers a 60% discount on Seattle City Light bills and a 50% discount on Seattle Public Utilities bills. Looking at the top fives states for data centers can help sort out some of the politics of data centers from what is actually happening to electricity prices. But the Southeast broadly is seeing “extraordinary” upward pressure on rates, Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, told Utility Dive. Post-COVID inflation accounts for some of the bill increases, he said, but most blame can be put on “the extraordinary digital demand” coming from crypto mining, data centers for cloud support, and AI hyperscalers. Another key advantage is the early adoption of so-called demand-side management—essentially requiring data centers to rely some on their backup power on the hottest and coldest days of the year when demand peaks. Sideris said Duke was the first utility to require such curtailments from hyperscalers to get them onto the grid more quickly.
On a Collision Course with State Climate Mandates
Blessed with ample sun and wind for renewables but bedeviled by high electricity prices and natural disasters, California encapsulates the promise and peril of the United States’ energy transition. He said the bill would also create a minimum safety standard for energy storage projects in Virginia, provide additional regulatory oversight and provide more support for localities reviewing energy storage projects. Their proposals include bills intended to increase renewables and energy storage, expand utility efficiency programs and improve load forecasting. This long-term trend of declining inflation-adjusted rates, as presented by the company, is framed as a direct benefit to consumers grappling with California’s high cost of living, even as the state navigates climate policies and persistent wildfire risks.
Spanberger put at least part of the blame for rising electricity prices on data centers, promising to make tech companies “pay their own way and their fair share” of the escalating costs. While SoCalGas’s storage did provide some buffer, it was not enough to prevent the massive price surge, demonstrating that storage alone cannot insulate consumers from broader market failures. This history of volatility is a key reason why state regulators are actively exploring pathways to reduce reliance on the fuel, viewing the transition not only as a climate imperative but also as a long-term economic security strategy.
Each census tract has a composite CES score imputed from the 21 indicators, with higher scores representing communities that are more negatively impacted. Using the CES, the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) identifies disadvantages communities (DACs) as census tracts with CES scores that rank in the top 25 percent. The CalEnviroScreen (CES) metric represents a metric that is independent of utility bill data and is comprise of 21 population characteristics and pollution burden indicators.
Five leading water associations urge Congress to create a low-income water assistance program
- “There are certain parts of the country where data centers are driving the cost higher in some of these markets.
- Looking ahead to 2026, the industry’s approach around affordability needs to transition from defensive cost-cutting to offensive, data-driven optimization.
- I will support higher pay for public teachers, keeping taxpayer dollars in our public schools, and increasing the number of school counselors and social workers.
- “Total average revenues per kWh increased by 9.0% from last February, to 14.36 cents/kWh in February 2026,” EIA said.
- As mentioned, renewable energy from wind and solar is intermittent, and a grid that relies heavily on these resources will have periods with very low-cost energy and those with high-cost energy.
As a result, decision-makers and stakeholders will have a baseline to consider when assessing the impacts of CPUC decisions as well as inform important policy discussions to promote long-term affordability for residential customers thereby reducing financial hardship, non-payments, and disconnections. Because the electrification transition is likely to take some time, there will be a period when new infrastructure is being built alongside legacy systems like gas pipelines and distribution systems. Access to electric technologies (induction stoves and heat pumps) will be easier for higher-income households who can afford the up-front costs, while others continue to use gas appliances and furnaces. Newly published work finds that when the customer base for natural gas utilities shrinks, bills for remaining customers increase, disproportionately impacting low-income and disadvantaged customers with fewer opportunities to upgrade appliances.