The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently published its first energy-sector forecasts through 2027 in the January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).
EIA expects U.S. electricity use to grow by 1% this year and 3% in 2027. This increase would mark the first time since 2007 that power demand has risen for four years in a row and the strongest four-year growth period since 2000.
The driving factor behind this surge is increasing demand from large computing centers, it said in the outlook.
"U.S. energy production remains strong, and natural gas output is expected to grow to nearly 109 billion cubic feet per day this year," said Tristan Abbey, Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration. "Natural gas supply is critical as we forecast that U.S. liquefied natural gas exports expand and electricity demand rises through 2027, driven largely by increasing demand from large computing facilities, including data centers."
EIA forecasts sales of electricity to the commercial sector will increase by 2.4% in 2026 and 4.3% in 2027 after a 2.4% increase in 2025. This increase can be largely attributed to increasing demand from large computing facilities, that include data centers.
Electricity sales to the industrial sector have been relatively flat since the early 2000s but are expected to grow by 1.6% in 2026, and 3.4% in 2027 after growth of 1.7% in 2025.
Electricity sales to the commercial sector in the West South Central region, which includes Texas, increase by 10 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) in 2026 and 33 BkWh in 2027.
This growth represents about 30% and 50% of total U.S. sales increase to the commercial sector in each forecast year, respectively.
Electricity sales increases in the South Atlantic and East North Central regions are driving most of the rest of the commercial sector growth in the United States.
Rising electricity use in these regions is partly attributed to data center growth particularly in Virginia, Georgia, and Ohio.
The West South Central is also the biggest contributor to industrial sector growth. Electricity sales to the industrial sector in the West South Central region in 2026 will account for more than 40% of the industrial sector’s total sales increase. That value increases to 70% in 2027.
The industrial sector in this part of the country is consuming more electricity based on rising use for oil and natural gas extraction, petroleum refining, and LNG production, EIA said.
