Data center demand to push US power use to record highs in 2025, ‘26, EIA says

Power-hungry data centers that provide computing power for artificial intelligence and crypto currency will push U.S. electricity consumption to record highs in 2025 and 2026, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday.

The EIA projected power demand will rise to 4,193 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2025 and 4,283 billion kWh in 2026 from a record 4,097 billion kWh in 2024.

In addition to data centers, American homes and businesses are expected to use more electricity for heat and transportation.

The EIA forecast 2025 power sales will rise to 1,517 billion kWh for residential consumers, 1,474 billion kWh for commercial customers and 1,055 billion kWh for industrial customers.

Those forecasts compare to all-time highs of 1,509 billion kWh for residential consumers in 2022, 1,434 billion kWh in 2024 for commercial customers and 1,064 billion kWh in 2000 for industrial customers.

The EIA said natural gas' share of power generation would slide from 42% in 2024 to 40% in 2025 and 2026. Coal's share will hold at 16% in 2025, the same as 2024, before easing to 15% in 2026, as renewable output rises.

The percentage of renewable generation will rise from 23% in 2024 to 25% in 2025 and 27% in 2026, while nuclear power's share will hold at 19% in 2025, the same as 2024, before easing to 18% in 2026, according to the outlook.

EIA projected gas sales in 2025 would rise to 13.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) for residential consumers, 9.7 bcfd for commercial customers and 23.5 bcfd for industrial customers, but fall to 35.9 bcfd for power generation.

That compares with all-time highs of 14.3 bcfd in 1996 for residential consumers, 9.6 bcfd in 2019 for commercial customers, 23.8 bcfd in 1973 for industrial customers and 36.9 bcfd in 2024 for power generation.