The EIA projects power demand to reach 4,179 billion kWh in 2025 and 4,239 billion kWh in 2026. Credit: DifferR/Shutterstock.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast in its short-term energy outlook that power consumption in the US will reach record levels in 2025 and 2026.

The surge is attributed to the growing electricity demand from data centres dedicated to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, as well as increased usage in homes and businesses for heating and transportation, as reported by Reuters.

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The EIA projects that power demand will rise to 4,179 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2025 and further increase to 4,239 billion kWh in 2026. This is an increase from the previous record of 4,082 billion kWh set in 2024.

The US electric power sector expects a 2% increase in electricity generation in 2025 and a 1% rise in 2026, following 3% growth in 2024, with renewable energy sources leading the expansion.

If electricity generation continues to grow as anticipated, it will represent the first three consecutive years of growth since the period 2005 to 2007.

The EIA also anticipates that the share of US generation from solar will jump from 5% in 2024 to 8% in 2026, driven by a projected 45% increase in solar generating capacity.

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In contrast, the share of generation from natural gas is expected to decrease from 43% in 2024 to 39% in 2026 due to rising natural gas prices.

Coal’s share will drop from 16% in 2024 and 2025 to 15% in 2026, as renewable output climbs.

Renewable generation’s percentage is expected to increase from 23% in 2024 to 25% in 2025 and 27% in 2026.

Nuclear power’s share is projected to remain stable at the 2024 level of 19% for both 2025 and 2026.

The EIA’s forecast for 2025 includes power sales rising to 1,524 billion kWh for residential consumers, 1,458 billion kWh for commercial customers and 1,054 billion kWh for industrial customers.

These figures compare to the all-time highs of 1,509 billion kWh for residential consumers in 2022, 1,421 billion kWh for commercial customers in 2024 and 1,064 billion kWh for industrial customers in 2000.