US electric utilities push for more rate hikes after record year of increases
NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) -U.S. electric utilities are seeking to hike customer power bills in 2024, extending last year'srecord rise in electricity rate increases, the Energy Information Administration said on Monday.
Utilities have increasingly asked for rate increases in recent years to pay for power infrastructure as the country's grid faces an onslaught of extreme weather and ballooning demand from the electrification of industries and the technology sector's data center build out.
In 2023, state utility regulators signed off on nearly $10 billion in rate increases, more than doubling the $4.4 billion approved in 2022, the EIA said.
Two California utilities looking to guard power infrastructure against wildfires by burying transmission lines, and taking other expensive measures to harden the electrical network, accounted for one-third of last year's increases, the EIA said.
The EIA estimates that another $8.9 billion of rate increases will be authorized this year, but only if regulators continue to approve requests at the same pace they have since 2023.
From the beginning of 2023 through August 2024, regulators approved 58% of utility rate increase requests, the group said.
Total rate requests so far in 2024 are $12.7 billion, according to data from Regulatory Research Associates (RRA), which is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.
"RRA has been tracking rate cases since the early 1980s, and 2023 was the most amount of rate increases requested in our history," RRA senior research analyst Dan Lowrey said.
Reporting by Laila Kearney; Additional reporting by Mrinalika Roy; Editing by Richard Chang
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
