Record United States Electricity Sales in the September 2026 STEO: Data Centres and Manufacturing

EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook released on 9 September 2026 states that the United States uses record amounts of electricity in the forecast. Electricity sales are expected to total 4,135 billion kilowatthours in 2026 and 4,211 billion kilowatthours in 2027, driven by data-centre development and increased manufacturing in the commercial and industrial sectors. Despite a pause in connecting new data-centre projects in Texas to the grid, the West South Central region still accounts for the largest share of total electricity sales growth in the forecast.

The September overview table shows natural gas at 40 percent of generation for 2025 through 2027, coal moving from 17 percent in 2025 to 16 percent in 2026 and 14 percent in 2027, nuclear at 18 percent, wind near 11 to 12 percent, and solar rising from 7 to 8 to 9 percent. Record sales without matching firm capacity and transmission produce either higher prices, higher fossil utilisation, or reliability events. The STEO's note that West South Central still leads sales growth despite a Texas interconnection pause is a warning about concentration risk.

For boards and ministries watching the United States market from abroad, the September 2026 STEO is the cleanest single snapshot of a power system being pulled by digital and industrial load while its fuel mix slowly shifts.