Utilities plan $1.4T in capex over next five years to upgrade grid, power AI boom

[High Voltage Electric Power Lines At Sunset]
imaginima/iStock via Getty Images

U.S. investor-owned utilities have raised their capital spending plans over the next five years by more than 20% [https://www.utilitydive.com/news/utility-investment-plans-jump-21-further-threatening-affordability-power/817524/], as they seek to upgrade an aging power grid and meet rising electricity demand for the AI boom, according to a new report [https://powerlines.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/0413_PowerLines-CapEx-Report-1.pdf] this week from energy consumer non-profit PowerLines.

The group reviewed 51 recent utility quarterly earnings calls and estimated the companies plan to spend $1.4T through 2030, up from $1.1T in capex plans last year, PowerLines said, warning the growing total “could become a major driver of future rate increase requests."

The utility spending increases "have not yet fully hit people's bills," PowerLines Executive Director Charles Hua said in a discussion of the report, noting that capex and rate increases are "both leading indicators for where the trends around utility and electricity affordability could go over the next coming years."

Electricity cost increases are outpacing many other types of inflation in the U.S., up 4.6% Y/Y in March, compared to a 3.3% gain in overall consumer prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The southeastern U.S. is "a particular hot spot of proposed capital spending," Hua said, with utility capex plans totaling $572B, more than double any other region, the report found.

PowerLines said about half of the proposed spending from the 51 utilities would go toward upgrading the transmission system, much of which is decades old; such work often has proved expensive and lengthy because of permitting issues, regional opposition, and supply chain backlogs.

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