Is Your Power Bill Rising: It's the "AI Energy Shockwave"

If there’s one story that’s dominating conversation here in Maryland — where I live and operate — it’s soaring energy costs.

This “energy angst” is everywhere.

On my drive in Northern Maryland, yards, farms and businesses are bedecked with colorful signs protesting the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP) — a proposed 67-mile transmission line that would rely on “eminent domain” and run through thousands of acres of mostly rural areas of Frederick County and northern Baltimore County.

Folks are torqued because the project — which they derisively refer to as a “giant extension cord” — would mostly benefit the energy-hungry data centers in Northern Virginia.

If I drive the other way — about six miles from where I live with Robin, Joey and our dog, cat and bunny rabbit — I pass the Mountain Branch Golf Course … which developers want to bulldoze and replace with a hyperscaler data center.

Mind you, all this is happening as Maryland households are getting hammered by rising energy bills. Over the past year, folks have seen their bills surge an average of $12 to $22 a month (or about 8% to 14%).

But there are more extreme cases: There are “bill shock” victims, who are seeing increases of 25% to 80% (jumps of $40 to $90 per month, or more).

A longtime friend and colleague told me folks in neighborhood have taken to the Nextdoor app to vent their ire over utility bills that surged even more than this.

And that surge isn’t over. The latest forecasts say folks in my state could see increases of 1.5% to 5% (or more) starting next month.

The catalysts are complex. We’re definitely carrying some of the power freight for Northern Virginia — already the AI Data Center Central for the United States, and by some measures the highest-density hyperscaler center in the world.

Here’s the new reality about AI …

The “ AI bottlenecks” are changing — and fast. A few years back, it was semiconductors and processing power.

Today it’s electricity.

Hyperscalers keep building data centers. So electricity demand keeps soaring. And new power plants and transmission grids aren’t coming online fast enough.

Take a look at the PJM Interconnection, which operates the grid for 13 states including Maryland. Forecasts see a need for about 5,400 MW of new demand by 2026, with data centers responsible for the majority of that growth.

That’s how much electricity you’d need to power 4 million to 5 million homes – and you’d need it running 24/7/365.

And it’s not just Maryland.

Meet the “AI Energy Demand Shockwave.”

Here’s where that shockwave is being felt … and the impact it’s having.

It’s also not just here in America.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects global energy consumption will increase by 16% to nearly 50% by 2050 compared to 2022 levels. Renewables, nuclear and battery storage are projected to account for 81% to 95% of new electric-generating capacity installed by that time — though natural gas and petroleum will see continued demand growth.

You folks know our process:

Step 1: Find the best storylines and you’ll find the best stocks

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Era is one of the top storylines here. And energy availability is a key catalyist. Without the latter (energy), the former (the AI Era) isn’t possible.

Step 2: Take a deep dive look at the opportunities then zero in on our “highest-conviction” picks for our Model Portfolio, reserved for our SPC Premium members.

So let’s take that deep dive today.

I’ve compiled a list of five top AI-connected energy stocks in terms of projected one-year returns. Those projections are the “consensus” forecasts of top Wall Street firms — not something I base my own research on, but good enough for a solid “survey” of what’s out there. And that’s a good starting point for us today.

So here we go …

Five Stocks in Five Minutes

Here’s a top-to-bottom ranking (highest projected return to lowest) of five companies — using recent stock prices for my calculation.

I’ve shared a couple of sentences explaining what the company does. And I’ve included a key “Trigger” that could get the stock to move.

1. Hallador Energy (HNRG)

• Current Price: $17.66     

• Consensus Target: $27.12     

• Projected Upside: 53.6% 

• Wall Street Rating: Strong Buy  

• AI‑Energy Thesis: Midwest baseload provider in a capacity‑tight region.  

• Key Trigger: New long‑term power contracts tied to data‑center expansion in the Midwest.

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