When companies reported earnings over the past two weeks, the utility sector glimmered. Southern Company boasted $13 billion in new capital expenditures. FirstEnergy Corp.'s estimates for transmission investments surged by as much as 20%. CMS Energy announced real progress on building out power for data centers. Xcel Energy beat analysts' estimates on strong operational performance.
These second quarter results, the investment bank Jefferies wrote in a note to clients, have the makings of a new "golden age of utilities."
"It's a remarkable time for electric utilities," Chris Seiple, VP of power and renewables at the consultancy Wood Mackenzie, told Latitude Media. "For 20 years, they haven't had load growth and now, for the first time in a long time, they have load growth. For some of the utilities, they have a lot of load growth."
