05/13/2026 at 10:15AM
The subcommittee hearing is entitled, “Wires, Rates, and States: Permitting Transmission for Affordable, Reliable Power.” The hearing will review the planning, siting, and permitting of electric infrastructure, and the critical role of state regulatory oversight necessary to provide affordable, reliable delivery of electric power.
Witnesses:
- Tony Clark, Executive Director, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC)
- Mark Christie, former Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Director, Center on Energy and Law, William & Mary Law School
- Randy S. Howard, General Manager, Northern California Power Agency
- Clay Rikard, Senior Vice President, System Planning, Southern Company
- Rob Gramlich, President, Grid Strategies
- Michael Skelly, CEO and Co-founder, GridUnited
U.S. electricity demand is projected to grow nationally at a significant rate through the end of the decade, and beyond. Recent estimates have projected annual growth rates ranging between 3.7 percent to 15 percent by 2030.2 In April, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) noted that, after 15 years of nearly flat electricity consumption, demand has increased by 2.1 percent per year, on average, over the last five years. Electricity demand growth is projected to continue to grow steadily through 2050, with data center energy use a major factor.
Just in the next two years, EIA projects peak summer demand for power to continue to grow significantly overall, at 2.3 percent this year and 3.7 percent in 2027; and for the commercial sector, in which data centers are classified, at 2.6 percent and 5.8 percent respectively. The industrial sector is also projected to grow by upwards of 5.1 percent in 2027. By the end of the decade, data center-driven increases in electricity demand could consume as much as 17 percent of all electricity in the United States.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) 2026 Long-Term Reliability Assessment finds that most of North America is at risk of energy shortfalls over the next five years, and the risk is growing. Key drivers include a confluence of interrelated issues, including a generation resource base that is becoming more variable and weather-dependent, unprecedented growth in electricity demand, and a pace of resource additions that is not keeping up with demand projections. The report finds, for example, that over the next 10 years more than 104 gigawatts (GW) of generation is projected to retire while peak power demand may grow by over 224 GW in the same time period. The report finds that projections for generation resource and transmission growth lag behind what is needed to support new data centers and other large loads that drive escalating demand forecasts.8 NERC’s president recently called the reliability challenges facing the United States a “five alarm fire.”
Meanwhile, electricity prices increased by an estimated 29 percent from 2019 to 2025, including 5.3 percent increase over 2025. Analysis shows that transmission and distribution costs have risen steadily while fuel and generation costs have generally declined. In 2025, over 7,000 circuit miles of transmission lines entered into service in RTO/ISO regions.
In 2005, Congress provided FERC limited “backstop” siting authority, under which FERC could override a state and issue permits for the limited number of transmission projects that may qualify by meeting certain conditions and being located within a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor designated by the Department of Energy. No permit has been issued under this authority. At the same time, Congress also provided authorization for three or more contiguous states to enter an interstate compact, subject to approval by Congress, to establish a regional transmission siting agency to carry out the transmission siting and permitting responsibilities of states. States have not taken action under this authority.