Regulated utilities are leveraging data center load to justify the largest capital plan expansion in utility history -- 100+ GW of signed ESAs, $50B+ 5-year plans, and a customer affordability argument that accelerates regulatory approvals

Utility data center load contracting has reached escape velocity. Over 100 GW of signed electric service agreements and late-stage commitments exist across regulated utilities. AEP, Entergy, CenterPoint, Evergy, DTE, Dominion, Duke, NiSource, Alliant, CMS, NextEra, PG&E, and a dozen others are all signing multi-GW hyperscaler agreements. Sempra's ERCOT substantiated load queue tripled to 127 GW (271 GW total data center), implying decades of infrastructure demand in Texas alone. The regulatory unlock is the customer affordability argument: utilities have collectively quantified $30B+ in customer savings from data center load. AEP, DTE, Duke, NiSource, Southern, Xcel, PG&E, and others have demonstrated that data center interconnection creates net bill reductions for residential ratepayers through load factor improvement. This converts what should be rate shock into customer bill reductions, accelerating the regulatory approval cycle. 5-year capital plans now routinely exceed $50B and rate base CAGRs reach 11-12%. Entergy raised its capital plan by $14B in a single quarter. Transmission is the fastest-growing regulated asset class, with rate base CAGRs of 10-16% at Exelon and FERC formula rates enabling zero regulatory lag. Utility equity issuance is proceeding with strong demand -- offerings routinely 5x oversubscribed, signaling capital markets view the cycle as fundable and durable.