Grid Demand Tracker
How much electricity the lower-48 grid is using — the latest complete day's average and peak against a decade of same-season history, with the regional breakdown and record days.
Today's reading
On October 22, 2026 — the most recent complete day EIA has published — the lower-48 U.S. grid consumed an average of 447 GW, with a peak hour of 493 GW. That average is unusually high for this time of year — the 93rd percentile of same-season readings in our data since July 1, 2015. Over the past week, demand ran +0.6% vs the same week last year.
Sources, methodology & freshnessEIA-930 hourly demand, all lower-48 balancing authorities (adjusted series, public domain) · Daily — EIA publishes each day's hourly data the following morningData as of 2026-10-22 · Open ↓Close ↑
The 93rd percentile of same-season readings — lower-48 total from EIA hourly data.
Daily demand since July 1, 2015
Demand by region — October 22, 2026
Daily average by EIA grid region, with each region's change vs the same week last year. Fast-growing regions (data-center corridors like Mid-Atlantic and Texas) tend to lead the year-over-year column.
| Region | Avg demand | vs last year |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-Atlantic (MIDA) | 87 GW | +5.5% |
| Midwest (MIDW) | 76 GW | -0.1% |
| Texas (TEX) | 53 GW | -8.1% |
| Northwest (NW) | 40 GW | +0.5% |
| Central (CENT) | 32 GW | -0.2% |
| California (CAL) | 31 GW | +10.8% |
| Florida (FLA) | 26 GW | -4.6% |
| Southeast (SE) | 22 GW | -6.3% |
| Carolinas (CAR) | 22 GW | +5.5% |
| Tennessee (TEN) | 17 GW | +0% |
| New York (NY) | 15 GW | -0.3% |
| Southwest (SW) | 14 GW | +5.6% |
| New England (NE) | 12 GW | +2.8% |
Why traders and investors watch this
Load growth is the earnings driver behind the entire power trade: regulated utilities grow their rate base against it, merchant generators sell into it, and the data-center buildout thesis priced into those stocks ultimately has to appear in this series. The regional table is where to look — concentrated growth in the Mid-Atlantic and Texas corridors is the data-center signature, while broad growth is weather or economy. Demand is also the largest use of U.S. natural gas via power burn, making sustained high-percentile readings the demand side of the balance on our Natural Gas Storage page. This page is deliberately the physical data layer. It is not a signal, and no forward-return claim is made for it.
How this is computed — and what it can't tell you
Every hour, each U.S. balancing authority reports demand to the EIA's Form 930 collection. We sum the hourly values across all lower-48 balancing authorities (using EIA's adjusted series, which patches reporting errors), then reduce each complete day to an average and a peak hour. Days with missing hours are excluded rather than estimated.
Limits worth knowing: EIA revises 930 data for roughly 30 days after first publication, so recent readings can shift slightly — our daily refresh re-downloads the current window, and revisions flow through automatically. Demand here is metered load, which since 2015 includes the growth of data centers but excludes behind-the-meter rooftop solar (a real demand that never touches the grid).
The 93rd percentile of same-season readings — lower-48 total from EIA hourly data.
How Grid Demand Tracker Works
- 1Every balancing authority, every hourEach U.S. balancing authority reports hourly demand to the EIA's Form 930 collection. We sum the hourly values across all lower-48 BAs using EIA's adjusted series (which patches reporting errors), then reduce each complete day to an average and a peak hour. Days with missing hours are dropped, not estimated.
- 2Seasonal percentile, not raw comparisonA 640 GW day is unremarkable in July and extraordinary in April. Each day is ranked against same-season readings — a ±10-day calendar window across every year of history — so "high" always means high for this time of year.
- 3The regional table is where the story livesNational demand was flat for 15 years; the growth returned regionally first. Each of the 13 EIA regions shows its trailing-7-day average vs the same calendar week last year — the data-center corridors (Mid-Atlantic/PJM, Texas/ERCOT) usually lead that column.
- 4Revisions flow throughEIA revises 930 data for roughly 30 days. Our daily fetch re-downloads the current window, so late corrections replace early prints automatically.