Berkshire Hathaway Energy Utilities See Modest Gain in Capex Spending

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Written by John Egan for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Data center developers are said to have a high level of interest in building new facilities in areas served by Berkshire Hathaway Energy's utility units, but the holding company plans a relatively modest increase in its capital outlays over the next three years, to about $33.3 billion, a gain of about 16%.

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Capex Rising for Many Electric Utilities

Electric utilities around the U.S. have had to significantly increase their five-year planned capital expenditures (capex) by 30% or more to meet the needs of planned large loads, mainly data centers. For more on that, see February 16, 2026, article - Planned Data Centers Drive Up WEC Proposed Capex--Again and January 29, 2026, article - NextEra Looks to Nuclear, Renewables for Powering Data Centers.

By contrast, Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company (BHE), the holding company that owns PacifiCorp, NV Energy, MidAmerican Energy and other utilities, plans a relatively modest 16% growth in its three-year capex program, to about $33.3 billion for the 2026-2028 period, from approximately $28.7 billion in 2023-2025, according to BHE's 10-K report filed last month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

BHE is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated, the conglomerate overseen for decades by legendary investor Warren Buffett, who retired in December.

BHE's 10-K only included three years of forward-looking data; most utilities disclose five years of forward-looking capital outlays. It is possible that in the out years, beyond 2028, capex at BHE may surge.

But the company's measured capital plans are not because data center developers are uninterested in building campuses in the states served by BHE's operating utilities. Quite the opposite, as Chief Financial Officer Chuck Chang told the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) financial conference last November.

"Our utilities have contracted over 9,000 megawatts (MWs) of data center load, which is in-service or in varying stages of construction. In 2024, data center peak load reached nearly 1,800 MWs across our utilities, representing approximately 7% of total system peak load."

Chang continued: "Data center peak load could reach 4,000-5,000 MWs by 2030 based on customer requested ramp schedules for facilities already contracted. Our reliable, low-cost and increasingly noncarbon energy is attractive to hyper-scalers, and our businesses continue to receive significant additional data center requests. New capital investments in the grid and in generation resources will be needed to accommodate this load growth."

He then detailed the below-national-average price of electricity charged by BHE's operating utilities for full-year 2024, citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, showing BHE utilities charge anywhere from 5% to 44% less than the national average.

In an earlier presentation to the financial community, Chang said, "Our utilities have received a significant number of requests to connect to the grid from potential data center customers. If all data center requests to connect to our utilities were accepted, load capacity would increase by nearly 9x by 2030 from our 2023 data center load, resulting in 12% total retail load growth per year."

A 12% annual electric growth rate would be three to four times higher than the industry is projecting even now, as data center developers descend on utilities across the nation for confidential conversations about building new power plants and infrastructure to power large language models on which various artificial intelligence (AI) platforms rely.

Planned Capital Spending by Utility

Some of BHE's U.S.-based operating utilities planned capital outlays are rising faster than others:

• MidAmerican Energy, which provides electricity and gas to Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota and Nebraska, is expecting a 65% increase in capital spending, to approximately $8.9 billion over 2026-2028, up from about $5.4 billion for the period three-year period.
• PacifiCorp, which includes Pacific Power and Rocky Mountain Power, plans to invest about $7.9 billion in its business over the 2026-2028 period, down about 15% from the $9.3 billion that unit spend in the 2023-2025 period.
• NV Energy, which includes Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific, expects to invest about $7.5 billion over the next three years, up 17% from $6.4 billion for 2023-2025.

Industrial Info is tracking about 90 capital projects worth an estimated $25.6 billion for these three U.S.-based BHE units:

• PacifiCorp has scheduled 41 capital projects valued at about $16.8 billion. Subscribers to IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can access those proposed projects here.
• NV Energy plans to begin construction on 36 projects worth approximately $4.9 billion. Subscribers to IIR's Global Market Intelligence platform can access those proposed projects here.
• MidAmerican Energy and MidAmerican Nuclear Energy have 13 planned capital projects valued at about $4.1 billion. Subscribers to IIR's Global Market Intelligence platform can access those proposed projects here.

Other BHE utility units, including Northern Powergrid, BHE Pipeline Group, BHE Transmission and BHE Renewables, plan to make capital investments totaling about $9 billion over the next three years, up from around $7.5 billion for the 2023-2025 period.

Planned Capital Spending by Function

By function across BHE's utility units, planned capital spending on transmission & distribution (T&D) outstrips far other categories:

• BHE's utilities plan to invest about $15.8 billion in its T&D system over the next three years, up sharply from the $12.2 billion those units invested in 2023-2025.
• Those utilities expect to spend about $3.7 billion on gas transmission and storage, up from the roughly $3 billion those functions invested over the previous three years.
• Solar generation is expected to invest about $2.8 billion over the 2026-2028 period, up sharply from the $1.6 billion that function invested in the prior three years.
• Spending on wind generation, by contrast, is slated to fall to slightly to just over $2 billion from $3.4 billion for the 2023-2025 period.
• Wildfire protection spending is expected to be flat at about $1.8 billion over the next three years.
• Spending on battery energy storage is expected to fall sharply, to an estimated $197 million over the 2026-2028 period from about $907 million for the prior three years.

Key Takeaways

• Berkshire Hathaway Energy, the holding company for electric and gas utilities in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, plan to increase capital spending to about $33.3 billion over the 2026-2028 period.
• MidAmerican Energy will garner the largest share of planned capital outlays over the next three years, at $8.9 billion.
• By function across all BHE utility units, electric T&D spending is slated to garner the lion's share of planned capex over the next three years.

About IIR News Intelligence
IIR News Intelligence is a trusted source of news for the industrial process and energy markets, powered by Industrial Info Resources' Global Market Intelligence (GMI).

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 Trillion (USD).