Electric Utilities

Southern California Edison filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, Southern California Gas, and water agencies on Friday. They allege that they are responsible for the deadly Eaton Fire, which devastated thousands of homes and businesses last year. SCE, which is owned by Edison International, filed complaints in the Los?Angeles Superior Court where more than 1,000 lawsuits were filed by business and residential owners to hold SCE accountable for the destruction of property that occurred. The Eaton Fire erupted on January 7, 2025 and tore through Southern California. It killed 19 people, destroyed more than 9,400 homes, and destroyed other...

The White House on Saturday urged the U.S. largest electric grid to hold an "emergency auction" to prevent rolling blackouts, as data center energy demands are growing faster than the country's ability to build new generation plants. The Trump Administration initiative calls for PJM Interconnection, a company that serves 67,000,000 customers across 13 states, including Washington, D.C., and conducts an emergency auction to address escalating prices of electricity and increasing reliability risks in the mid-Atlantic area of the United States. PJM will unveil its plan on Friday. PJM has been criticized for its slow response to the rising demand and...

The S&P?500 edged up in choppy trades ahead of the long holiday weekend on Friday. Wall Street was looking to wrap up a week of turbulence that marked the?start?of fourth-quarter earnings. Micron and Seagate Technology, which manufacture memory chips, gained 5,6% and 2,2% respectively in 2025. This is a continuation of their explosive gains from 2025. After President Donald Trump suggested that he might want to keep Kevin Hassett as his economic adviser, the Treasury yields increased. This lowered market expectations that Hassett will succeed Fed chair Jerome Powell. The odds of Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, becoming the...

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv in Ukraine's capital, said that Kyiv only has half the electricity it needs as it is facing its worst?wartime energy crises following waves of?Russian attacks against its infrastructure. Klitschko stated that Kyiv is one of the largest cities in Eastern Europe and requires 1,700 Megawatts per day of electricity to run its services. Klitschko stated that the current energy crisis is the greatest challenge facing the capital since the Russian invasion of February 2022. In an interview at his office in the heart of Kyiv, Klitschko said, "This is the first time ever in...

Wall Street's major indexes were higher on Friday, as chipmakers took the lead in a volatile and busy week. It was also the beginning of the fourth quarter earnings season. Memory chip makers led the gains. Micron, Seagate Technology, and SanDisk all saw their shares rise between?2% to 7%. This is a continuation of their explosive growth in 2025. The iShares Semiconductor ETF rose 2.1% on the Friday, extending its rally of nearly 12% so far this season, which has easily beaten Nasdaq's 1.2% gain. This shows investor confidence in AI-driven chip demand. Even after S&P 500 and Dow set...

S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones are set to open higher on Friday. Chipmakers have taken the lead in a volatile market week which also marked the start of fourth-quarter earnings. Memory chipmakers have led the way, with Micron Western Digital Seagate Technology, and SanDisk up between 3.6% and 5.0%, extending their explosive gains in 2025. The iShares Semiconductor ETF rose 1.8% on the Friday, extending its rally of nearly 12% so far this season, which has easily beaten Nasdaq's 1.2% gain. This shows investor confidence in AI-driven chip demand, even as money is shifting out of heavyweight tech companies...

Two sources familiar with the situation have confirmed that governors of states in the United States experiencing a rapid increase in data center construction are expected to visit the White House this Friday, and sign an agreement with Trump's administration to reduce rising electricity prices. The agreement sets price caps on future auctions for the PJM grid, which covers 67 million people across the mid-Atlantic region and inland states. It also forces new data center operators such as Amazon and Google to pay a larger share of the cost to expand the grid. The White House event is part of...

Duke Energy Florida, a U.S. utility, announced on Wednesday that the storm cost recovery charge will be removed from customers' bills a month sooner than originally planned. Costs are related to the company's response of nearly $1.1 billion dollars to hurricanes Debby Helene and Milton. For this, the Florida?Public Service Commission had received a plan from the company in late 2024. The utility announced that residential customers would see a?reduction of about $33 in their monthly bill starting in February, and another $11 in March, bringing the total?reductions up to $44 from levels in January. Commensurate with the reduction in...

The Energy Information Administration, in its "Short-Term Energy Outlook" on Tuesday, said that the U.S. electricity consumption will continue to rise in 2026 and 2027. The EIA's projected electricity demand will?rise? from a record of 4,198 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2020 to 4,256 billion in 2026, and 4,364 in 2027. The demand for electricity is increasing due to the data centers that are dedicated to artificial Intelligence and cryptocurrency. Also, homes and businesses are using less fossil fuels to heat and transport. EIA predicts that power sales for residential customers will reach 1,519 billion kWh in 2026, while commercial...

Johnson & Johnson persuaded Delaware's highest Court to dismiss part of a $1 billion damages award due to its breach of a 2019 agreement to buy Auris Health - a manufacturer of surgical robots. In a?unanimous ruling on Monday, Delaware’s Supreme Court set aside a part of the September 20,24 award made to former Auris investors who claimed that Johnson & Johnson had failed to support Auris’ iPlatform Technology and was too slow in gaining regulatory approvals for bringing?devices onto the market. After recalculation, damages and interest could be reduced by several hundred million dollars. Fortis Advisors, the company representing...

Pacific Gas and Electric's parent company has reached a settlement of $100 million with shareholders who claimed that the utility operator misled them regarding its wildfire prevention?and safety protocol before wildfires occurred in northern California during 2017 and 2018. The preliminary settlement between PG&E and the U.S. District Court of San Jose in California was filed on Saturday. It requires a judge's approval. Shareholders, led by the Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico said PG&E concealed their defective wildfire safety techniques. This included electrical equipment and vegetation management that was blamed for the start or exacerbation of the 2017...

Pacific Gas and Electric's parent company reached a settlement of $100 million with?shareholders that accused the utility operator?of misleading them about their wildfire prevention?and?safety protocol?before wildfires occurred in northern California during 2017 and 2018. The preliminary settlement between PG&E and the U.S. District Court of San?Jose in California was filed Saturday. It requires a judge to approve it. Shareholders, led by the 'Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico', said PG&E hid its defective wildfire-safety practices. This included electrical equipment and vegetation control that was blamed for causing or exacerbating 2017 North Bay fires and the 2018?Camp Fire. The North...

NHK, the public broadcaster, reported Monday that Tokyo Electric Power has delayed its'restart of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa nuclear power plants, which was originally scheduled for 'January 20th. TEPCO would have had to restart its reactors for the first time since Fukushima Daiichi was struck by a powerful tsunami in 2011. The company planned to restart Unit No.6 in Kashiwazaki Kariwa on January 20th and Unit No. The company had planned to restart Unit No.6 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa on Jan 20 and Unit?No. NHK, citing its sources, stated that the delay was caused by an alarm malfunction which occurred during equipment tests...

The nuclear watchdog in Japan said that it will order Chubu Electric Power on Wednesday to submit a report detailing?falsified data? and pause the review of its utility's application?to restart?its only atomic power plant. The Nuclear Regulation Authority in Japan (NRA) warned that it would take a harsh action against Chubu Electric after discovering the utility had manipulated data used for the reviews of its No. The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) of Japan had?previously?warned against a severe response towards Chubu Electric, including scrapping the review altogether after it was revealed that data used in the reviews of reactors No. Hamaoka,...

Experts say that the Japanese plan to grant authorities the authority to order foreign investors retroactively to divest acquisitions aims to protect major companies and supply chains. However, it is unlikely to curb increased M&A activity, they add. Japan proposed Wednesday amendments to its foreign investment screening laws that would give authorities the option to force foreigners into selling investments they deem to be a risk to national or economic security. The proposals are part of a push by the Japanese government to reduce risks associated with a?an?inflow?of foreign money into Japan's economy and to maintain control over its key...

The European Commission announced on Monday that it had opened an investigation to determine whether the public support that Czech Republic plans to provide for?the construction and operation of two new nucleonic units is in compliance with EU State Aid rules. After EDF France's appeals were rejected, the Czech Republic's Competition Authority in April cleared the path for the signing of contracts with South Korea for two units in Dukovany worth at least $400 billion Czech crowns ($19.30billion) after they?rejected their appeals. In a press release, the Commission stated that it had "doubts" about the 'appropriateness' and 'proportionality? of the...

An official from the China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC) research arm said that China would begin commercial operation of the Linglong One small modular reactor in the first half of 2026. The APC100 reactor, also known as APC100 was the first SMR approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2016. The first project to use the Linglong One technology, CNNC's project on China's island of Hainan began in 2021. Wang Zhenqing of the China Institute for 'Nuclear Industrial Strategy', spoke at an international energy conference in Beijing. SMRs can be built faster and smaller than traditional reactors, and...

Swakop Uranium is a subsidiary owned by the China General Nuclear Power Group. It has entered into a joint venture agreement with Namibia’s water utility, NamWater to build Namibia's second desalination plant near Swakopmund. The plant is only the second one of its kind in Africa. It will help to bolster water supply to the country's biggest uranium mining operation, Husab. In a joint statement released on Tuesday, partners of the joint venture said that negotiations had ended successfully. The project implementation phase will now begin. Swakop Uranium holds 70% of the stake, and NamWater has the rest. According to...

U.S. utilities are racing to sign supply deals with data-center operators as the artificial-intelligence boom sparks a surge in power demand, setting the stage for higher profits in the coming quarters. Goldman Sachs reported in May that data centers will account for 8% (compared to 3%) of the electricity generated in the U.S. in 2030. Here are some of the deals that utilities have announced for 2024 and 2025. NextEra Energy has expanded its partnership to Alphabet’s Google Cloud in order to increase data center capacity across the U.S. by multiple gigawatts, and improve energy infrastructure. Meta Platforms has signed...

Hokkaido Governor Naomichi Suzuki stated on Friday that the restart of Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari Nuclear Power Plant in northern Japan was considered a real option at this time. Suzuki said he would take a final decision about the restart of the project after completing on-site inspections, and collecting feedback from the surrounding communities. The Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan approved a safety assessment for Tomari's 912-megawatt reactor No. The final step in the 12-year-long process of restarting Tomari's reactor No. Suzuki stated that, given the regulatory approvals, the new emergency response plan of the government, and the expectation...

On Friday, a Japanese regional governor will be expected to announce whether he is willing to allow a partial restart at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, which is the largest in the world, as Japan attempts to revitalize its nuclear sector while reducing fossil fuel imports. The approval of Niigata Prefecture governor Hideyo Haazumi will remove the final major obstacle for Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) in its plans to restart Kashiwazaki and Kariwa's two biggest reactors. TEPCO would be able to restart its power plant for the first time since March 2011, when the tsunami destroyed Fukushima Daiichi. This...

On Wednesday, a fire destroyed more than 170 structures and claimed the life of one person in an area along the southern coast of Japan. Military and firefighting helicoptors were scrambling in a bid to put out this country's biggest urban fire in nearly half a century. Aerial footage broadcast by television stations showed the destruction of houses and thick smoke plumes rising from Saganoseki, a hilly district in Oita that overlooks a harbour famous for its Seki-brand premium mackerel. Local media reported that the flames also spread to nearby forested hills and an uninhabited island, more than one kilometer...

Axia Energia, a Brazilian power company, announced a loss for the third quarter of the year after accounting non-cash expenses incurred from the sale of its Eletronuclear shares. It also announced the payment dividends to its shareholders. Why it's important The results show Axia's ongoing reorganization as it leaves the nuclear sector and streamlines its operations while maintaining shareholder returns, despite the accounting losses. The company's dividend decision was based on a strong performance and stable power prices. KEY NUMBERS Axia's Board approved 4.3 billion Reais ($795.72 Million) in dividends, despite Axia reporting a loss of 5.45 Billion Reais for...

Kansai, Japan's largest nuclear power company, revised its profit forecasts for the fiscal year that ends in March next year by 65 billion yen, to 360 billion ($2.4 billion), due to an increase in electricity demand. Kansai, a company in which activist investor Elliott from the United States has recently become a major minority shareholder, raised its forecast for the full year dividend to 75 yen, up from 60 yen. The nuclear capacity factor (which measures how much of total nuclear power capacity available is actually used) was left unchanged at around 80% from the previous forecast. Kansai's net profit...