Concentric: $120-169B Grid Cost Shift Risk From Large Loads
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- Concentric Energy Advisors released a report concluding that large load customers are an asset for modernizing the grid and adding flexibility, provided they are "integrated transparently and pay their fair share."
- The report warned that if large loads don't cover their share of fixed grid costs, the resulting cost shift to other customers could total between $120 billion and $169 billion over a 30-year period nationwide in transmission costs alone.
- U.S. electric utilities are projected to invest $239 billion this year in strengthening and expanding the power grid, according to the Edison Electric Institute, which commissioned the Concentric report.
- Annual spending by major utilities to produce and deliver electricity rose 12% from 2003 to 2023 in real 2023 dollars, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration cited in the report, with capital needs rising even without large loads.
- Large-load tariffs in some states already require big customers to share in storm recovery costs and help fund new generation and reliability-driven backbone transmission investments, Concentric noted.
- Concentric flagged that "major technology companies such as Amazon are actively partnering with utilities to strengthen the grid rather than bypass it," while calling widespread reliance on behind-the-meter generation "not a durable path forward."
Why it matters: U.S. utilities plan $239 billion in grid investment this year, and large load customers are pitched as the way to spread those fixed costs. If big new loads don't pay for the transmission upgrades their demand triggers, $120-169 billion in costs over 30 years lands on residential and small commercial ratepayers — a conclusion the report's funder, EEI, has a direct stake in shaping.
