EEI's Phil Moeller: Delivering Resilient Clean Energy Across the Economy
To help support the growing demand for data and energy, EEI member companies are working with some of the nation’s largest employers to power their operations with resilient clean energy.
EEI and our member companies—America’s investor-owned electric companies—are committed to delivering resilient clean energy to the customers and communities we serve, without compromising reliability or affordability. And, while many of our customers are residential, we also power large swaths of the U.S. economy, serving a growing array of businesses and industries and ensuring they have the electricity they need to maintain their operations and support their own customers and employees.
As the U.S. economy increasingly electrifies, our industry has never been more important to the continued vitality of American business. Electric companies contribute at least $865 billion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP)—or 5 percent of the country’s total economic output. EEI and our member companies know that we are the first 5 percent of U.S. GDP, supporting other sectors that increasingly are electrifying, like the transportation and industrial sectors. Electric companies sold more than 3.9 million gigawatt-hours of electricity to customers in 2022, up 2.8 percent over the year, according to data included in the latest edition of EEI’s Statistical Yearbook of the Electric Power Industry. Commercial and industrial customers collectively accounted for nearly 61 percent of that total.
By 2050, commercial and industrial demand is projected to grow by 12.7 percent and 16.4 percent, respectively. And, those figures exclude the transportation sector, which continues to rapidly electrify. The National Renewable Energy Lab estimates more than 180,000 EV fast charging ports will be needed to accommodate 33 million EVs on U.S. roads by 2030.
"As the U.S. economy increasingly electrifies, our industry has never been more important to the continued vitality of American business."
As the U.S. economy continues to electrify and digitize, EEI’s members are working with technology companies and other stakeholders to anticipate and meet their customers’ evolving needs, often through data collection and automated computing processes. Increasingly, our members also are working to support data centers that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates consume 10 to 50 times the energy-per-square foot of a typical commercial office building. DOE projects data centers account for 2 percent of all electricity consumed in the United States—a number that is only expected to rise in the coming years.
To help support the growing demand for data and energy, EEI member companies are working with some of the nation’s largest employers to power their operations with resilient clean energy. They also are partnering with technology companies to supply data centers with renewable energy— helping to power their operations and meet their emission-reduction and sustainability goals.
As we continue our work with large corporations and technology companies, we also are prioritizing America’s small and diverse businesses to ensure they share in the benefits of a resilient clean energy future. Many of our member companies maintain programs and resources that directly benefit small businesses, helping them save money and become more energy efficient.
Our customers have long served as our industry’s North Star, and we must continue to ensure that residential, commercial, and industrial customers are top of mind. Businesses large and small—and, by extension, their employees and customers—are depending on America’s electric companies to power their operations. And, as electricity demand climbs in the years and decades to come, our industry’s role as a growth engine will be vital to the overall health of the U.S. economy.
Phil Moeller is executive vice president, regulatory affairs and international programs at the Edison Electric Institute.