U.S. utilities have signed billions of dollars worth of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals this year, driven by the desire to position themselves for the power demand surge.
The electric, gas, and water utilities sector has so far this year agreed more than $60 billion worth of asset and corporate acquisition deals, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.
Some of the biggest deals include Constellation Energy, the biggest owner of U.S. nuclear power plants, buying Calpine in a cash and stock deal valued at an equity purchase price of about $16.4 billion to create America’s largest clean energy provider.
Another blockbuster deal was TXNM Energy agreeing to be acquired by Blackstone Infrastructure in a deal with a total enterprise value of $11.5 billion, including net debt and preferred stock.
NRG Energy Inc has signed a deal to buy a portfolio of gas-fired power generation facilities valued at $12 billion from LS Power Equity Advisors, as the Houston-based firm bets on the growing U.S. electricity demand.
“We are in the early stages of a power demand supercycle, and we are excited to lead the way with reliable energy solutions that will drive considerable value for NRG and all of our stakeholders,” NRG chief executive Larry Coben said when the deal was announced in May.
Texas-based utility Vistra Energy has struck a $1.9-billion deal for the acquisition of close to 2.6 GW worth of gas-powered generation capacity across several states from Lotus Infrastructure Partners.
Utilities are looking to add generation assets to boost their offering to customers as data centers are driving a jump in power demand across the United States.
“Data centers — propelled by the rapid adoption of AI, cloud services and hyperscale computing — are driving unprecedented load growth, particularly in regions with limited excess capacity,” PwC said in its US Deals 2025 midyear outlook on the Power and utilities sector.
“This is accelerating investor focus on both renewable and dispatchable generation assets that can serve digital infrastructure at scale.”
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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