Electric utilities across the country are ramping up infrastructure spending, and much of that buildout is now being justified by data centers rather than typical residential demand growth. For instance, Alliant Energy plans to invest roughly $13 billion in its generation, transmission and distribution systems over the next several years, a pace of spending the company expects will translate into steady mid single digit earnings growth.  

Other major utilities are following a similar playbook, committing tens of billions of dollars of their own toward grid modernization and new generation capacity.  

AI driven electricity demand will prove durable enough to justify years of elevated capital spending and the premium valuations utility stocks currently command. 

Finsum: Utilities like Alliant are treating data center demand as durable enough to justify years of elevated infrastructure spending.