AI Boom Sends U.S. Electricity Demand to New High
Strikes Iran Again as Brent Slips Despite Escalating Conflict What I Cover Tsvetana Paraskova is an energy and commodities journalist who has contributed to Oilprice.com for nearly a decade, covering global energy markets, commodities,… U.S.
electricity consumption set a new record high last year and is on track for new all-time highs this year and next, as the AI boom has ended America’s decade of stagnant power use.
Rising electrification rates are partly responsible for the higher power demand, but the AI boom and the data centers that support it are the key drivers of growing electricity demand and will remain so over the next few years.
As power demand grows, generation is also increasing to record highs, with natural gas remaining the mainstay of the U.S.
But renewable energy generation and capacity installations are also rising and replacing more and more of the coal-fired power supply, despite the pro-coal and anti-renewables policies of the Trump Administration.
electricity supply hit a record high of 2,234 terawatt hours (TWh) in the first half of 2026, up by 3% from a year earlier, according to data by clean energy think tank Emberanalyzedby Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.
This growth was mostly due to the data centers, as “data center load is emerging as the dominant driver of long-term U.S.
Energy Information Administration (EIA)saidin its annual outlook earlier this year.
After hitting a record 4,195 billion kilowatt-hours of total electricity consumption in 2025, the U.S.
will see this use further jump to 4,269 billion kWh this year, and 4,399 billion kWh next year, according to EIA’s latestShort-Term Energy Outlook(STEO) for July.
What’s more notable than the expected fresh records in consumption is the EIA’s forecast that sales to customers in the commercial sector this year will top the sales to residential customers, for the first time ever, and will remain the biggest power-consuming sector in 2027 ahead of the residential and industrial sectors.
Related: Why the UAE Is Taking a Bigger Piece of America’s LNG Crown Jewel This projection by the EIA shouldn’t be surprising as the commercial sector with the data center load has been leading U.S.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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