Why millions of Americans pay for unfinished electricity projects

Millions of Americans are unknowingly paying for unfinished electric grid projects through a policy called Construction Work In Progress (CWIP) incentives. This allows utilities to charge customers for power plants and transmission lines long before they are built, boosting near-term bills in exchange for promised future savings. This policy aims to supercharge grid upgrades amid soaring demand from data centers powering artificial intelligence, at a time when the U.S. electric grid's reserve buffer has become critically thin. A Reuters review found that at least 40 U.S. states now utilize some form of CWIP, doubling the number from a decade ago, with significant adoption in the past five years coinciding with the data center construction boom. Specific actions include Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe reversing a 50-year ban on CWIP incentives last year to meet rising power demand from data centers, with Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and North Carolina adopting similar provisions since 2024. Examples of CWIP-financed projects include the Vogtle nuclear reactors in Georgia, a Nevada transmission project by NV Energy, and a Virginia offshore wind farm by Dominion Energy, all of which have led to ratepayers funding projects still under construction. However, consumer and business groups criticize CWIP for shifting financial risk to ratepayers and contributing to already rising energy costs, noting double-digit increases in data center hotspots like Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Paul Cicio of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America stated it "shifts the financial risk to the ratepayer," while Ben Inskeep of Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana called it "adding insult to injury." Utilities, including NV Energy and Dominion Energy, argue CWIP is vital for grid modernization and can reduce long-term financing costs for customers. The structure has also faced public backlash, with Georgia voters unseating two public service commissioners in November following an anti-CWIP referendum over massive cost overruns for the Vogtle reactors, which burdened households with approximately $1,000 each in CWIP expenses since 2009.