The numbers: This figure includes a record $9.2B in rate increase requests filed during Q2 alone, according to a new PowerLines report. That’s 26% higher than the previous Q2 record. Last quarter’s filings could impact upcoming bills for over 56M US customers.

The regional divide: The largest rate increase requests came from Southern utilities—these totaled $4.5B across 26M customers. Next up, Midwest utilities asked for $2.7B in increases across 14M customers. The biggest single increase this past quarter? An ask for $1.2B from Oncor, mostly to fund its five-year T&D spending plan to serve data centers and the oil & gas industry.

So, what do customers think? We recently dug into this question—hear why the public trust gap may be even bigger than many utility leaders realize.

New York is now the first US state to enact a data center moratorium. The one-year construction ban addresses projects >50 MW (unlike a similar state bill passed this year, which covers data centers >20 MW). During the temporary ban, Gov. Kathy Hochul is directing state officials to develop environmental standards for future data centers. 

In Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker signed bills aiming to ease utility customer concerns. These 1) expand low-income energy discounts and 2) require a state commission to publish a report (by Jan. 1, 2027) breaking down monthly electric bill charges. 

Plus, more nuclear for New Jersey: Just over three months after NJ lifted its 50-year nuclear construction moratorium, Gov. Mikie Sherrill has signed a law directing the NJ Board of Public Utilities to procure >1 GW of new nuclear. The law comes with several safeguards to shield ratepayers from cost impacts, including a requirement for projects to secure federal financing.

The gigawatts: The tech giant has signed a virtual PPA for the first 1.6-GW, 2-GWh phases of the Steel River Energy Center in Arkansas. How it works: These clean electrons will travel directly to the local grid, rather than to a Google facility. The project is slated for completion in 2029, when it will offer 2.5 GW of solar capacity and 2.9 GWh of storage capacity—enough to power over 315K homes per year. 

The PR angle: This announcement comes weeks after Google reported that its supply chain carbon emissions shot up 25% year-over-year. And in April, news broke that Google is planning to co-locate a Texas data center campus with a 933-MW gas plant that could emit more carbon dioxide than the city of San Francisco. But it’s not the only hyperscaler increasingly hyping up gas to fuel the data center buildout.

AI-proof? Automation anxiety is rising—and so is trade school enrollment, which increased by nearly 20% from 2020-2025, The New York Times noted. And this week, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers announced it had added a record 30K new members so far this year (last year alone, the union added 24K people).

The forecast: Between 2024 and 2034, the country’s quickest employment growth is projected for the renewables sector—wind turbine service technician employment is predicted to increase by nearly 50%, while solar PV installers are set to grow by 42%.

The mismatch: Amid late June’s brutal temperatures, NESO (Great Britain’s independent grid operator) said frequency and voltage remained within statutory limits. But the evidence shows otherwise: Frequency dipped below operational limits multiple times as unplanned outages struck gas plants. 

The allegations: Whistleblowers claim that senior leaders were “risking blackouts to protect [NESO’s] reputation.” The whistleblowers allege that NESO operators were directed to “hide information that the grid was not secure at all times." NESO Chief Executive Fintan Slye has denied the claims—and the grid operator is bringing in an independent law firm to investigate them.