Infografik

Building the AI-Era Utility Demands Bold Moves

US power demand, prices, and earnings targets are growing above historic rates. Closing the gap requires transformation.

Von Christophe Guille, Martha Eggenberger, und Olivia Massey

  • First published on September 25, 2026
Illustration of a drone flying back and forth above an electrical substation, with transmission towers, transformers, and power lines

Infografik

Building the AI-Era Utility Demands Bold Moves
en

US power demand, prices, and earnings targets are rising

Three statistics on rising US power demand: compound annual load growth of 1%–5% through 2028, and around 10% or more in data-center hotspots, following 15-plus years of flat peak demand; customer bills rising 5%–8% annually through 2045, versus 1%–3% increases in prior years; and expected earnings per share growing 5%–8% annually, a slight uptick. Below the statistics, an illustration shows transmission towers and power lines across a stylized landscape of hills and trees.

 

Keys to managing growth and affordability

Four icons paired with strategies for managing growth and affordability: a wrench represents reimagining operations, maintenance, and capital productivity to remove bad volume and ensure remaining work is done efficiently; a wallet represents ensuring large new customers pay their true cost of service so residential customers don’t subsidize data center growth. A construction crane represents bringing in outside partners to help fund new infrastructure, and a rising line chart represents maximizing the value of investments by tying each rate increase to reliability, resilience, and reductions in total energy cost.

 

Where to start?

Five priorities to launch the transformation

  1. Value sources

    Size the workflows that most affect reliability, safety, affordability, customers, and regulatory compliance

  2. Changing work

    Identify which tasks disappear or become AI-assisted, which roles get reinvented, and what the workforce implications are

  3. Reusable capabilities

    Lay out which data, AI, and integration capabilities should be built once and scaled, and define the requirements

  4. Proof points

    Choose 3–5 pilots that can deliver near-term value and build toward the 2030 model

  5. Scale with repeatable capabilities

    Forge pathways to scale across workflows, institutionalizing new capabilities, processes, training, and technology

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Autoren
  • Headshot of Christophe Guille
    Partner, Los Angeles
  • Headshot of Martha Eggenberger
    Partner, Toronto
  • Headshot of Olivia Massey
    Associate Partner, New York
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