Rising Electricity Demand, Workforce Needs, and Small Businesses

House Small Business Committee
   Rural Development, Energy, and Supply Chains Subcommittee
2360 Rayburn

09/02/2026 at 10:00AM

Subcommittee hearing entitled “Fueling the Golden Age: Future Resource Needs and Small Business Opportunity.” The stated purpose of this hearing is “to examine future resource and workforce needs necessary to support America’s next generation of manufacturing, technology, and industrial growth.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

  • Cody Harris, Representative, District 8, Texas House of Representatives
  • Ted Ellis, Deputy Director, Energy & the Environment, America First Policy Institute
  • Trevor Higgins, Senior Vice President, Energy and Environment, Center for American Progress

Utilities now project 166 gigawatts of peak-load growth nationally over the next five years, a more than six-fold increase from the 24 gigawatts forecast in 2022.