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News2 min read·2026-10-21DisconfirmAI Editorial

US Utilities Tighten Grid Access Standards for AI Data Centers as Half of Planned Buildouts Face Delays or Cancellations

To combat 'phantom' demand, US power companies are requiring financial collateral and long-term contracts from AI data centers, leading to significant project delays and highlighting the electricity bottleneck in compute expansion.

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Original publication time 2026-10-21 09:10 GMT+8

As the artificial intelligence boom drives a surge in data center construction, US utilities are taking stricter measures to filter out genuine power demand. According to The Wall Street Journal, utility companies and grid operators are now demanding higher rates, longer contracts, collateral, and steep engineering study fees from data center developers to weed out what the industry calls "phantom" data centers. This shift is driven by the fact that grid costs are shared among all users; if utilities build substations and transmission lines for projects that never materialize, other network users ultimately pay the bill.

Data shows this screening mechanism is having a significant impact. According to an analysis by Wood Mackenzie, US data center developers have requested 1,066 gigawatts (GW) of grid connections, a figure equal to roughly 83% of the country's entire utility-scale generating capacity at the end of 2025. However, Wood Mackenzie expects utilities to commit to serving only about 28% of that demand. Exelon offers the clearest example: after beginning to require transmission security agreements (TSAs), credit obligation bindings, and shortfall payments, its high-probability data center load fell nearly 40%, from 18GW at the end of 2025 to about 11GW in the second quarter. Jeanne Jones, Exelon's CFO, stated that typical requests have jumped from around 50MW in the past to often 1,000MW or more, with the core internal question being: "How do you know what's real?"

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Despite the sharp drop in expected load, Exelon told analysts its $41 billion capital plan through 2029 remains unchanged, indicating that utilities are not cutting long-term infrastructure investment due to short-term demand fluctuations but are instead raising barriers to lock in high-quality customers. Meanwhile, PJM, the largest US grid operator, saw its capacity auction clear at the price cap for the third consecutive time this summer while missing its reliability target by 6.8GW. PJM's independent market monitor noted that 42% (about 4,017MW) of forecast data center load growth has already been canceled or delayed.

For investors and industry observers, this means the pace of AI infrastructure construction is no longer determined solely by chip supply or land acquisition, but is strictly constrained by the financial feasibility of grid access. Average minimum contract lengths for large customers have risen to about 10.8 years from 4.6 years before 2024. Additionally, ordinary households are feeling the pressure of rising electricity prices due to cost pass-throughs; for instance, Henrico County, Virginia, asked schools and staff to cut electricity use after a 24.9% rate increase. It remains unclear how much of the AI power rush is real, but this uncertainty is forcing utilities to act like lenders: asking to see the money first.

Sources

  • 原始出处techradar.com↗
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