US residential electricity prices have risen by more than 40 per cent since the start of 2021, which is much faster than general inflation. Utilities requested a total of $31 billion in increased rates last year, double the amount in 2024. And investor-owned utilities are planning to spend $1.4 trillion on capital projects over the next five years – enough on one calculation, to build almost 2,000 Hoover Dams at today’s prices. So why are American electricity bills going up, and what can be done...
Jun 23, 2026•47 min•Ep. 579
Methane is the second-most important greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide. It has accounted for roughly 30% of human-induced global warming since the 19th century. But it is also a valued commodity, used to heat homes and cook food, provide raw materials for industry and keep the lights on. Every molecule leaked is energy wasted and money lost. The IEA estimates that about 200 billion cubic meters per year could be saved for productive uses by reducing leakage and flaring in the oil and gas indu...
Jun 15, 2026•51 min•Ep. 577
There are two great forces reshaping the world of energy today. The AI boom and the wave of investment in new data centres have sent power producers scrambling for generation capacity to meet soaring electricity demand. At the same time, the severe disruption to shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has put security of supply at the top of every importer's agenda. In this special episode, recorded at Wood Mackenzie's Gas, LNG and the Future of Energy Conference in London, host Ed Crooks ...
Jun 12, 2026•44 min•Ep. 576
The conflict in the Middle East has created severe disruption to shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, taking roughly 20% of global supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) off the market. It has been a reminder that hundreds of millions of people rely on the international gas trade to heat our homes, fuel our industries and keep our lights on. And that trade is highly vulnerable to sudden shocks. In this special episode, recorded at Wood Mackenzie's Gas, LNG and the Future of Energy Con...
Jun 09, 2026•49 min•Ep. 575
America is facing an energy supply crisis created by surging demand for electricity from data centres. A transition to a lower-carbon system requires massive investment in new clean energy infrastructure. But legal and regulatory structures mean that developing projects in the US is often an uncertain, drawn-out and expensive process. To take just one example, new transmission infrastructure is vital for connecting renewable generation to concentrations of electricity demand. But the last time t...
May 25, 2026•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 574
The era of stagnant electricity demand in the US is over. Data centres, electrification, and reshoring of manufacturing are driving a surge in demand that is stronger that anything that anyone currently working in the industry has yet seen in their professional lifetimes. The question of which market and regulatory structures are needed to respond to this new and fast-changing world is now at the centre of the policy debate. Host Ed Crooks is joined by Drew Maloney, President and CEO of the Edis...
May 19, 2026•48 min•Ep. 573
The war with Iran has put a spotlight on the security and resilience of energy and supply chains around the world. In this second special episode from the ACORE Finance Forum in New York, host Ed Crooks explores what that means for the US power industry, at a moment when rising electricity demand was already putting the grid under strain. Lori Ann LaRocco, a trade and supply chain expert and author of Trade War: Containers Don't Lie, explains the global impacts from the closure of the Strait of ...
May 14, 2026•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 572
The numbers are staggering. The “magnificent seven” Big Tech companies are expected to have combined capital spending of about $800 billion this year. Data centres’ electricity demand is soaring, and hundreds of billions of dollars more are being mobilised to invest in power infrastructure to meet that demand. In this special episode, recorded at the ACORE Finance Forum in New York, host Ed Crooks speaks with five guests at the heart of the revolution in energy finance: bankers, a deal lawyer, a...
May 13, 2026•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 570
Ten weeks into the war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. The ceasefire is officially holding, but occasional attacks on ships and installations continue. A difficult question is coming into focus: what if the strait never fully reopens? Host Ed Crooks is joined by regular contributor Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of the Global Energy, Climate, and Sustainability Lab at NYU, alongside two guests. Edward (Eddie) Fishman is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a...
May 12, 2026•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 569
The past year has been challenging for electric vehicles. In the first quarter of 2026, US EV sales were about 27 per cent below their level in the first quarter of last year. But the ride-hailing industry still sees a future that is electric, autonomous, and shared, and is placing a multi-billion dollar bet on it. Ride-hailing services such as Uber could be one of the key sectors supporting the electrification of road transport in the years to come. In this episode, host Ed Crooks is joined by ...
Apr 28, 2026•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 568
When the workings of an electricity market come to the attention of the White House, it’s usually a sign that something’s wrong. Back in January, 13 state governors went to the White House to agree plans for PJM, the largest electricity market in the US. The market is scrambling to find more energy supply to keep up with the boom in data centers, while holding down ratepayers’ bills. Managing the PJM grid is one of the toughest jobs in the US power industry. And these days it is being carried ou...
Apr 14, 2026•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 567
The world changed forever on February 28th, 2026. The consequences of the Iran war will take many years to play out. But one fact already seems clear: we are not going back to the world that existed before the conflict began. To assess what the war means for the future of oil, gas and power, host Ed Crooks is joined by three of the most experienced voices in the geopolitics of energy. Regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe is the Director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab. Samantha ...
Mar 31, 2026•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 566
Energy bills are rising, data centers are multiplying, and the grid is straining to keep up. What happens next? For two decades, electricity prices in the United States barely moved. Demand was flat, natural gas was cheap, and the system was largely stable. That era is over. A surge in data center construction, accelerating electrification, and the legacy of years of underinvestment in energy infrastructure have collided to create a system under strain. Nowhere is that more visible than in PJM, ...
Mar 17, 2026•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 565
Tanker traffic dries up, oil, gas and fertilizer prices soar, and the world holds its breath The Strait of Hormuz has long been discussed as one of the single greatest vulnerabilities in global energy supply. Now the risk has become reality. Host Ed Crooks is joined by Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, and Chris Aversano, Director of Maritime Partnerships at Wood Mackenzie, to assess what the disruption means for energy markets, supply chains, and...
Mar 10, 2026•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 564
VPPs – virtual power plants – continue to spark heated debate. Are they genuinely a fast, affordable way to add capacity to the grid? Or are they an overhyped concept that falls apart when electricity systems are under stress? To find out, host Ed Crooks welcomes Colby Hastings, the senior director for residential energy at Tesla, to unpack what VPPs can and can’t do for the grid. Colby explains how storage-based VPPs can behave very differently from the classic demand response that relies on co...
Mar 03, 2026•58 min•Ep. 563
New analysis from Wood Mackenzie shows that 220 gigawatts of additional power demand from data centers is in the pipeline in the US, and 183 GW of that is already backed by firm commercial commitments. That is a huge amount to add in just a few years: it’s equal to about 22% of US peak demand in 2025. The big question is whether the US electricity industry going to be able to meet that additional demand. And if so, how? On the second day of ACORE’s 2026 Policy Forum in Washington, host Ed Crooks...
Feb 27, 2026•52 min•Ep. 562
ACORE, the power and renewables industry group, is this week hosting its annual Policy Forum in Washinton DC. It’s an event where industry leaders and experts discuss how the changing landscape of US energy policy is shaping infrastructure investment, the growth of electricity supply, and the affordability of power. Host Ed Crooks is recording two special episodes from the forum. This first show is focused on the US government’s attempts to build up a domestic supply chain for renewables and oth...
Feb 26, 2026•49 min•Ep. 561
Data centres have become one of the most contentious issue in US power markets. The question of who will pay for the new generation and grid upgrades needed to keep them running has been soaring up the political agenda, and attracting attention in the White House. Host Ed Crooks is joined on this episode by Brandon Oyer, Head of Americas Power & Water at Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Vince Parisi, President & COO at NIPSCO, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, to discuss a solut...
Feb 17, 2026•41 min•Ep. 560
It’s the hottest sector in the global energy industry right now, driven by rising power demand, the need to back up variable renewable generation, and escalating threats to grid resilience. It is of course, battery storage. Host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe speak with Julian Nebreda, CEO of energy storage systems company Fluence, about why batteries are becoming essential grid infrastructure. At peak hours during the bitterly cold weather that has covered much of North America in ...
Feb 10, 2026•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 559
As Texas battles another bout of bitterly cold weather, Energy Gang looks at the lessons that one generation and transmission electric co-operative learned from Winter Storm Uri in 2021. The freeze and subsequent shock to energy prices showed providers how dangerous it can be to rely on the market alone. For Rayburn Electric, a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative, incurring years of power costs in just days was a catalyst for a fundamental reset of its approach to risk and resilience. Host ...
Jan 27, 2026•45 min•Ep. 558
The new year has only just begun, and already we have seen an event with massive significance for the world of energy. The US operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro opens a new era for a country that holds – according to some definitions – the world’s largest oil reserves. So far there has been little impact on oil markets. But what are the implications going to be for energy in the months and years to come? To discuss how this volatile situation might evolve, host Ed Crooks is ...
Jan 08, 2026•52 min•Ep. 557
As we head into 2026, electricity grids aren’t just under strain; they are facing transformational change because of the shifts in the ways that we work, entertain ourselves, and get around. EVs are one of the fastest-growing new loads on the grid in many parts of the world, but are also one of the least well-understood. They can exhibit flexibility that’s mostly going unused today. Millions of EVs are already connected to the grid, and they’re being treated as a problem instead of a solution. S...
Jan 06, 2026•54 min•Ep. 556
It’s the final Energy Gang of the year, and host Ed Crooks is joined by regulars Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab , Shanu Mathew, a portfolio investor and manager, and Melissa Lott, a systems engineer and energy analyst, to take stock of an exciting year for energy. The buzzword of 2025 was undoubtedly AI. Data centres transformed the outlook for power demand, and rising electricity prices put pressure on a new US administration that is determined...
Dec 18, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 555
California is often described as the state where you can see the future of the US, and of the world. That has certainly been true in terms of some of the problems faced by the electricity grid. California has been grappling with the impact of wildfires and a big shift to renewable generation, and now faces the prospect of rising power demand from electrification and data centers. In this episode, host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe of NYU talk to Elliot Mainzer, President and CEO of...
Dec 09, 2025•44 min•Ep. 554
The COP30 climate talks in Belem wrapped up over the weekend, and reactions to the outcome were sharply divided. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said “climate cooperation is still alive…we’re undeniably still in it and we are fighting back.” Others said the COP had been another failure, with a final statement that amounted to “a form of climate denial”. To make sense of what really happened at COP30, and where the talks leave the global effort on climate change, host Ed Crooks i...
Nov 25, 2025•57 min•Ep. 553
Negotiations in the COP 30 climate talks are continuing in Belem, Brazil. The headlines are focusing on the divisions between countries that are shaping this year’s climate talks. But despite the doom and gloom, there are some practical steps being taken to support the transition towards lower-carbon energy. There may be a notable lack of significant new pledges. But making a pledge is the easy part. Implementation is always harder, and that is the focus for COP30. At COP28 in Dubai two years ag...
Nov 19, 2025•53 min•Ep. 552
COP30, which began this week in Belém, Brazil, marks a decade since the Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21 in 2015. It’s being billed as the “implementation COP”: instead of grand new announcements of international agreements, governments are supposed to be focused on delivering on the commitments they have already made. Host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe welcome back Amy Harder , National Energy Correspondent at Axios. She says not every COP is created equally, and “this is defi...
Nov 13, 2025•48 min•Ep. 551
COP30, now getting under way in Belem, Brazil, has been billed as “the implementation COP”, which means a focus on governments taking real steps to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. We will be examining all the key issues for government negotiators in the talks very soon. But for this show, we are looking at the role of business. At New York Climate Week in September, the discussion was all about how businesses are facing up to the challenges of meeting growing demand for energy while al...
Nov 11, 2025•31 min•Ep. 550
As world leaders, businesses and NGOs start their journeys to Brazil for the COP30 climate talks, more than 200,000 people attended ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi, the world’s biggest energy event. Energy Gang was there to bring you the highlights from the week’s discussions. One of the key talking points was the theme of energy addition, rather than transition. In other words, the idea that new renewables and other low-carbon sources are adding to global energy supplies, rather than replacing fossil fuels...
Nov 08, 2025•45 min•Ep. 549
Electricity demand in the US is rising faster than it has in decades, driven by AI and a wave of investment in domestic manufacturing. But with transmission lines and other electricity infrastructure taking years to permit and build, how can America secure the power it needs fast enough to remain competitive? In this special episode of The Energy Gang, recorded at the ACORE Grid Forum in Washington DC, host Ed Crooks speaks with industry leaders, innovators, and policymakers tackling the challen...
Nov 04, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 548
