Peak load on CenterPoint Energy’s system will jump 50% by 2029 — two years sooner than previously expected — driven by data centers and the reshoring of advanced manufacturing, the Houston-based utility said in its quarterly earnings call Thursday.
“Looking further ahead, this continued growth and significant acceleration of pace gives us even greater confidence in our forecast that load demand will more than double by the middle of the next decade,” CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells told analysts and reporters. The utility has forecast system peak load to reach almost 42 GW.
“This growth continues to be positive news for the region, as it drives jobs, increases tax base and helps keep our portion of the bills essentially flat,” Wells said.
CenterPoint has 7.5 GW of data center load it expects to be online by the end of 2028, including 2.5 GW already under construction and the rest “firmly committed,” according to its fourth quarter earnings presentation.
“This is in addition to the 3 GW of ordinary-course growth that our region is already expected to experience,” Wells said. “We are confident that we can execute on this near-term demand as it will be met with existing system capacity and manageable system upgrades.”
Converting CenterPoint’s remaining interconnection requests could add further load growth. And as system utilization grows, the utility expects customer rates to decline.
“We believe that if 5 GW of existing hosting capacity were utilized, we estimate it could reduce average residential delivery charges by over 2% based on the 2025 average bill,” Wells said.
The utility also added $500 million to its 10-year capital investment plan, driving the total to more than $65 billion from 2026 through 2035. The additional investment will fund another 765-kV import line, Wells said. In addition, “we continue to see CapEx upside in excess of $10 billion to further support economic development throughout our region.”
