U.S. Utilities Q2 2025: Big Tech Deals, AI Load, and a New Growth Playbook
Positive Current reviewed the latest earnings calls and found three emerging trends that show how utilities are being reshaped in real time — and what it could mean for your pocketbook.
For investors, regulators, customers, and employees alike, utilities have long been seen as a safe and stable bet. We all use power, and one way or another, we pay for it. Profits tend to follow. But a new set of variables is shaking up one of the most predictable sectors of the economy.
In Q2 2025, U.S. electric utilities reported a year-over-year earnings decline of about 5%—a modest dip on paper, but one that points to something bigger.
Milder weather meant households used less electricity, while rising costs ate into margins and new rate increases hadn’t yet taken effect. At the same time, commercial demand is beginning to climb, driven by the rapid buildout of AI-powered data centers. For now, that growth shows up more as investment than income—an expense on the books today with the payoff still to come.
Taken together, these pressures reveal an industry in transition: still steady at its core, but reshaped by new kinds of demand and by partnerships with Big Tech to finance the grid upgrades required to meet it. The playbook is changing, and utilities are moving into a central role in America’s digital and economic future.
Positive Current reviewed Q2 earnings calls and found three emerging trends that show how utilities are being reshaped in real time — and what it could mean for your pocketbook.
Big Energy, Meet Big Tech
The surge in power-hungry AI data centers is forcing utilities to think differently about how to finance growth. Instead of passing the full cost on to households, some are forging deals with the very companies driving demand.
Entergy and American Electric Power (AEP) have struck agreements with Amazon and Meta to fund the infrastructure required for massive new data centers. These partnerships shift the cost of expansion away from residential ratepayers and toward the corporations driving demand. In Ohio, for instance, regulators approved an AEP plan that requires large data centers to pay for at least 85% of their subscribed power and post collateral—explicitly to keep those costs off other customers.
It’s a notable evolution—utilities are no longer just adjusting rates, they’re negotiating with some of the world’s largest companies to ensure growth doesn’t come at the expense of everyday customers.
That doesn’t mean rate hikes are going away. In Q2, companies like FirstEnergy and Duke Energy are among many that leaned on previously approved increases in customer rates — part of how regulated utilities recover the costs of running and upgrading the grid — which kept profits steady but also meant higher bills in the short term. But if corporate cost-sharing becomes more common, it could take some pressure off customers in the years ahead.
Commercial Growth, Meet Consumer Costs
For much of the past 15 years, U.S. electricity use barely grew—even as the population did. The reason: efficiency. Homes and businesses squeezed more out of every kilowatt. Better lighting, appliances, and insulation all chipped away at demand, so overall usage stayed flat. In the industry, that steady demand is called “load”—and for years, there wasn’t much growth in it. Now that’s changing.
In Q2, Sempra reported a 40% jump in requests to connect new projects to the grid, a signal of just how quickly demand is accelerating. AI-driven data centers are a big part of the story, but they’re not the only factor. Entergy pointed to stronger commercial sales, and Alliant Energy reported higher household demand during hotter-than-average summer weather.
In the short term, households are likely to shoulder some of the cost of new utility investments through higher bills. In Q2 alone, utilities requested or secured $9 billion in rate hikes affecting 40 million Americans.
Utilities are gearing up for sustained demand growth, and the investments required to meet it will ultimately flow through to what customers pay. Over time, however, corporate partnerships could help dampen those costs.
An Industry in Transition
The uneven results of Q2 reveal an electric utility sector in flux. Traditional power companies posted weaker earnings, while signs of new growth — from AI-driven data centers, hotter weather, and commercial expansion — pointed to a changing future.
The bigger picture is clear: the old model of slow, predictable growth is giving way to something more dynamic. Utilities are being pulled in multiple directions at once—pressed to raise rates, challenged to innovate with corporate partners, and driven to meet soaring demand from an increasingly digital economy.
For everyday people, this isn’t just about balance sheets. It’s about who pays for the grid of the future. In the short term, those costs are already showing up on customer bills. The question is whether new corporate partnerships and smarter cost-sharing can blunt the impact in the years ahead — or whether households will continue to carry most of the load.