EIA: US power consumption expected to hit record levels in 2024 and 25

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Short Term Energy Outlook, published on Tuesday, said that the U.S. electricity consumption will reach new records by 2024 and 2025.

The EIA projects that power consumption will increase to 4,101 billion Kilowatt Hours (kWh) by 2024, and 4,185 billion in 2025, due to the growing demand for power from data centers, manufacturing, and electrification in transportation and buildings.

This compares to 4,000 billion kWh by 2023, and a record setting 4,067 trillion kWh by 2022.

Rising instances of extreme weather, which cause homes and businesses to crank up air conditioners or increasingly-electric heating systems, are also driving up demand.

EIA predicts that by 2024, residential customers will consume 1,503 billion kWh of electricity. Commercial customers will consume 1,413 trillion kWh and industrial customers 1,039 trillion kWh.

This compares to all-time records of 1,509 billions kWh for residential customers in 2022; 1,391 billions kWh for commercial customers in 2022 and 1,064 trillions kWh for industrial customers in 2000.

The EIA stated that the U.S. electricity supply is expected to increase by 3% in this year compared to 2023, to meet the growing demand. Solar and natural gas power will make up the majority of the new generation.

The EIA reported that solar power generated nearly 60% of the new U.S. electricity generation capacity in the first half 2024.

The EIA reported that Texas led the nation in terms of solar capacity expansions with 16 billion kilowatt-hours. California was second with 9 BkWh.

EIA predicted that natural gas would continue to dominate power generation in 2024 at the same level as in 2023 before falling to 39% by 2025. Coal's percentage will drop from 17% to 16% by 2024 and 25 as the renewables output increases.

Nuclear power will remain at 19% by 2024 and 2025.

EIA predicted that gas sales for residential customers would remain at 12,3 billion cubic foot per day (bcfd), but for commercial customers, they will increase to 9,3 bcfd, while power generation will reach 36,1 bcfd. Industrial customers, however, are expected to drop to 23,2 bcfd.

This compares to all-time records of 14.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 1996 for residential customers, 9.6 billion cubic feet per day in 2019 for commercial clients, 23.8 Bcfd for industrial customers in 1973 and 35.4 bcfd for power generation in 2023. (Reporting and editing by Aurora Ellis, Laila Kearney, Scott DiSavino. Additional reporting by Laila K. Kearney.

(source: Reuters)