Utilities plan to add 140 GW of new gas capacity by 2035, which would be a 25% increase in nationwide gas capacity. This is more new gas than in any previous report year even as the time period in which to build it (through 2035) shrinks.

Utilities can meet load growth without new gas. Utilities should meet near-term demand with fast, flexible, clean solutions, including efficiency, increased transmission, demand side management, renewables, and storage.

To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, scientific and policy consensus shows that economies like the U.S. must retire all coal-fired power by 2030. Yet utilities in this study are stubbornly clinging to coal with plans to retire just 25 percent of their coal generation by 2030.

Coal is one of the most polluting and often the most expensive way to produce electricity. Since 2015, utilities could have saved customers one to two billion dollars per year by running coal less. Retiring the rest of the coal fleet is one of the most effective ways to reduce emissions and lower customer's bills.

Utilities are backtracking on commitments to reduce emissions, which would necessitate more clean energy buildout. Over the last year, 21 utilities, under 11 parent companies, backtracked on their previous climate commitments. This includes further backtracking for Duke Carolinas and Progress and Entergy’s subsidiaries, which had already started to backtrack as of last year’s report.

Ten additional utilities backtracked on their previous climate commitments in last year’s report, meaning that 31 utilities, 41 percent of those studied, have backtracked on their climate commitments in the past two years. The excuses for these reversals are often timing and cost, which highlights a deeper issue: these utilities failed to make realistic plans years ago to meet their own goals.