About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges and changes in the US power grid due to increased demand from hyperscalers and the unique role of public power utilities.

What two decades of flat demand means for a grid now expected to double in size The US went from essentially zero load growth for twenty years to 3% national growth almost overnight. The supply chains, permitting pipelines, engineering workforce and regulatory processes were all calibrated for a different world. Bridget van Dorsten is joined by Tom Falcone, President of the Large Public Power Council, representing the 30 largest publicly owned utilities in the United States, collectively owning around 85% of public power assets and currently serving roughly 18% of all US data centre load.   Tom explains what makes public power structurally different from investor-owned utilities: locally governed, not-for-profit, and built to minimise cost rather than earn a return on equity. That governance model turns out to matter a great deal when trillion-dollar hyperscalers come looking for power. Public power utilities have no financial incentive to favour their own assets over a customer's, and their local accountability makes deal-making faster and more direct.   Bridget and Tom also work through the mechanics of how the industry is actually responding. Large-load tariffs are…

People in this episode

Host: Bridget van Dorsten

Guest: Tom Falcone

Topics covered

• public power
• hyperscalers
• grid infrastructure
• AI age
• energy demand
• utilities

Keywords

• public power
• hyperscalers
• energy grid
• data centers
• utility governance
• load growth
• tariffs

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Large Public Power Council

Places: United States

More episodes of Interchange Recharged

• Beyond combustion: Long Island's first hydrogen-powered linear generator and the fuel-flexible answer to the dispatchable emissions-free resource problem · May 5, 2026 · 40 min
• The electrolyzer reckoning: Can disciplined product development deliver on green hydrogen's promise before the survivors run out of runway? · April 21, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Flexibility as a service: Can Octopus's acquisition of Uplight finally make US residential VPPs work? · April 7, 2026 · 45 min
• The muscle we forgot: SMRs, hyperscalers, and why this nuclear renaissance might actually be different · March 24, 2026 · 56 min
• Is hyperscaler demand finally giving CCS its moment? · February 24, 2026 · 47 min
• Building the plane while it’s flying: data centers, utilities, and the new rules of power · February 10, 2026 · 44 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Interchange Recharged podcast page.