03 Feb
February 3, 2026 (Washington, D.C.) — The U.S. electric transmission system is beginning to make progress, but planning and development efforts remain uneven and, in many regions, too slow to keep pace with rapidly accelerating electricity demand, according to a new national report released today by Americans for a Clean Energy Grid and Grid Strategies.
The 2025 Transmission Planning and Development Report Card, the third edition of ACEG’s assessment, evaluates transmission planning and development across 10 U.S. regions. The report finds that recent reforms are beginning to improve outcomes in several regions, but rising demand from data centers, advanced manufacturing investments, and economy-wide electrification is compressing planning timelines and increasing the cost of delay — particularly where planning remains incremental or reactive.
“Regions are making real progress, even before compliance with FERC Order 1920 is required, but it’s uneven — and delay carries real costs for customers,” said Christina Hayes, Executive Director of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid. “Where regions have embraced proactive, long-term planning, we’re seeing better results. Where planning remains fragmented, reliability risks and costs increasingly show up in household electricity bills.
Key Findings:
Policy clarity drives improvement. Regions that moved early to adopt long-term planning reforms related to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order No. 1920 — including New England and the Mid-Atlantic — showed some of the strongest gains in regional planning since the previous report card
Interregional planning remains a major weakness. For the first time, the Report Card formally evaluates interregional transmission planning. Nationally, the average score is approximately a C-, reflecting continued reliance on voluntary coordination rather than a formal requirement for regions to implement interregional planning best practices capable of identifying and delivering the highest-value projects.
Rising demand increases urgency. Electricity demand is growing faster than previously projected, driven by large new loads and electrification across the economy. Regions that fail to plan proactively risk higher congestion costs, reliability challenges during extreme weather, and constrained economic growth.
Top-performing regions like California, the Midwest, and the Plains demonstrate the benefits of sustained, long-term transmission planning, while others like the Southeast and Texas — particularly regions without organized regional or interregional frameworks — continue to lag in planning best practices despite growing transmission needs.
The Report Card evaluates performance at the regional level using a combination of qualitative planning metrics and quantitative outcomes, including transmission built, transmission planned, and congestion. Grades assess performance at the regional level rather than assigning responsibility to any single institution and reflect the collective actions of utilities, regional planning organizations, states, and other stakeholders, and are intended as benchmarks against established best practices rather than definitive verdicts.
To earn top grades, regions must adopt proactive, long-term, scenario-based planning that evaluates multiple system benefits, integrates regional and interregional needs, and delivers transmission at the pace required to meet rising demand.
Many regions have planned transmission capacity broadly consistent with benchmarks in the Department of Energy’s 2023 National Transmission Needs Study. However, load growth projections have risen since that study was released, suggesting that even planned investments may fall short if current trends continue.
“Transmission planning works when it’s proactive, coordinated, and long-term,” Hayes said. “The challenge now is scaling those successes fast enough — across and between regions — to keep electricity affordable and reliable for all Americans as demand continues to grow.”
The full 2025 Transmission Planning and Development Report Card is available at the following link: https://www.cleanenergygrid.org/portfolio/report-2025-transmission-planning-development-report–card/
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About Americans for a Clean Energy Grid:
Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG) is a non-profit, broad-based public interest advocacy coalition focused on the need to expand, integrate, and modernize the North American high-capacity grid. ACEG brings together a diverse coalition — including business, labor, consumer, environmental groups, and other transmission supporters — to advocate for policies that recognize the benefits of a robust transmission grid.
Media Contact:
Alex Domb, Communications Manager
alex.domb@cleanenergygrid.org | 609-529-7721
