American electricity consumption is on track to break new records for the next two years running, according to federal energy forecasters. The Energy Information Administration released its Short-Term Energy Outlook on Tuesday, projecting that power demand — which already set a record high in 2025 — will continue climbing through 2026 and 2027.
The agency reported that U.S. power use reached 4,195 billion kilowatt-hours in 2025, itself a record. That figure is expected to grow to 4,269 billion kilowatt-hours in 2026 and then jump again to 4,399 billion kilowatt-hours in 2027.
A major force behind the increase is the explosive growth of data centers built to support artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency operations. At the same time, homes and businesses are increasingly switching from fossil fuels to electricity for heating and transportation, further pushing up overall demand.
One notable milestone in the forecast: commercial electricity use is expected to surpass residential demand in 2026 — something that has never happened before in recorded history. The agency projects commercial customers will consume 1,550 billion kilowatt-hours that year, compared to 1,508 billion kilowatt-hours for residential users and 1,065 billion kilowatt-hours for industrial customers.
For comparison, residential consumers set an all-time high of 1,515 billion kilowatt-hours in 2025, while commercial customers peaked at 1,493 billion kilowatt-hours that same year. The industrial record of 1,064 billion kilowatt-hours dates all the way back to 2000.
On the generation side, the mix of energy sources is also shifting. Coal’s share of power production is expected to drop from 17% in 2025 to 15% in both 2026 and 2027. Natural gas will hold steady at 40% across the same period, while nuclear power will remain at 18%.
Renewable energy is projected to grow its share of the power supply from roughly 24% in 2025 to 25% in 2026 and 27% in 2027, reflecting continued expansion of wind and solar capacity.
The outlook also covers natural gas consumption. Residential gas use is expected to fall to 12.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2026, and commercial use to 9.5 billion cubic feet per day. Industrial gas demand is forecast to rise slightly to 24.0 billion cubic feet per day, while gas used for power generation is projected at 36.6 billion cubic feet per day.
Those numbers compare to historical highs that include 14.3 billion cubic feet per day for residential use set in 1996, a commercial peak of 9.9 billion cubic feet per day reached in 2025, an industrial record of 23.8 billion cubic feet per day from 1973, and a power generation high of 36.8 billion cubic feet per day set in 2024.
