We expect U.S. hydropower generation will increase by 7.5% in 2025 but will remain 2.4% below the 10-year average in our May Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). Hydropower generation in 2024 fell to 241 billion kilowatthours (BkWh), the lowest since at least 2010; in 2025, we expect generation will be 259.1 BkWh. This amount of generation would represent 6% of the electricity generation in the country.
We forecast consumption growth of crude oil and other liquid fuels will slow over the next two years, driven by a slowdown in economic growth, particularly in Asia, in our May Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).
Retail electricity prices have increased faster than the rate of inflation since 2022, and we expect them to continue increasing through 2026, based on forecasts in our Short-Term Energy Outlook. Parts of the country with relatively high electricity prices may experience greater price increases than those with relatively low electricity prices.
In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast U.S. annual electricity consumption will increase in 2025 and 2026, surpassing the all-time high reached in 2024. This growth contrasts with the trend of relatively flat electricity demand between the mid-2000s and early 2020s. Much of the recent and forecasted growth in electricity consumption is coming from the commercial sector, which includes data centers, and the industrial sector, which includes manufacturing establishments.
The average electric monthly bill for U.S. residential customers was $144 in 2024, but average costs for customers in some states were much higher or lower. Customers in states such as Hawaii and Connecticut, where retail electricity prices are relatively high, paid more than $200 per month for electricity, or more than twice as much as customers in states such as New Mexico and Utah.
'There is no sign of a blasting price war emerging between OPEC+ and U.S. shale oil producers', SEB Chief Commodities Analyst Bjarne Schieldrop said.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright is ordering the stepped-up scrutiny.
Oil prices rose after Iran downplayed progress in nuclear talks with the US.
'In our view, the bullish impulses of the gas market may prove correct - but are just early', Eli Rubin, an energy analyst at EBW Analytics Group, said.
'Great British Energy comes from a simple idea - British people should own and benefit from our own natural resources', UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said.
