• THE GRID
The Machines Now Use More Power Than You Do
For as long as the EIA has kept records, homes used more power than offices. Every year. Without fail.
That just ended.
On Tuesday the EIA dropped its July Short-Term Energy Outlook. Buried on page 12 was a line that should have been front-page news. In 2026, commercial electricity sales will hit 1,550 billion kWh. Homes will use 1,508 billion kWh.
Read that again. The commercial sector — offices, stores, and most importantly, data centers — will consume more electricity than every house in America. First time ever.
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Commercial 2026
1,550 B kWh
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Residential 2026
1,508 B kWh
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Total U.S. Demand 2026
4,269 B kWh
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Total U.S. Demand 2027
4,399 B kWh
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Exxon and Chevron Have an Unlikely New Competitor
Energy giants like Exxon and Chevron have been buying up land in America’s lithium hotspot. Now they’ve got a new neighbor. EnergyX just acquired 35,000 gross acres of high-grade lithium resources in the Smackover Formation, right next to Exxon and Chevron’s projects.
What’s really turning heads about this move is that EnergyX isn’t just competing for lithium-rich land. Their patented technology can extract up to 3X more lithium than traditional methods. That combination positions EnergyX to be one of the biggest lithium producers in America. Plus, General Motors has already invested along with other global leaders like Eni and POSCO.
Great timing too, because the demand for lithium is projected to grow 5X by 2040. You can claim a stake in the lithium boom too.
"Electricity demand growth is led by an increase in the commercial sector, which is expected to outpace residential demand in 2026 for the first time on record."
Total U.S. power demand will reach 4,269 billion kWh this year. A record. Then it climbs to 4,399 billion kWh next year. Another record. The EIA says the driver is AI data centers, crypto, and broad electrification.
I want to zoom in on one word: "commercial." The EIA lumps data centers in with strip malls and dentist offices. That masks how much the growth is driven by computing. A dentist doesn't add 500 MW of load in a quarter. Meta does.
And this shift hit while two other forces collide. Brent crude surged past $77 a barrel this week after the U.S. revoked Iran's crude waiver. The Strait of Hormuz is still barely open. Natural gas — which fuels 40% of U.S. power — averaged $3.70/MMBtu in the EIA's 2026 forecast. That's low for now. But if the strait stays shut longer, all bets are off.
So demand is at a record. Supply chains for fuel are fragile. And the single fastest-growing load — AI — can't be turned off like an air conditioner on a hot day.
The grid was built for a world where homes drove demand. That world is gone. The money map just shifted — and most investors haven't noticed yet.
While everyone was distracted with the recent SpaceX IPO…
Elon Musk quietly filed a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect what Jeff Brown believes will be his next breakthrough…
Something he called "the greatest tech invention in history."
Click here to see the details because Elon is predicting this new AI breakthrough will unleash a $1 quadrillion new wealth wave.
• BLACKOUT WATCH
Three Cracks Nobody's Pricing
The transformer wall. Power transformer lead times now average 128 weeks. That's nearly two and a half years. Generator step-up units are worse — 144 weeks. Demand for those units has jumped 274% since 2019, per Wood Mackenzie. Prices are up 45% over the same stretch. You can fund a data center in six months. You can't get the transformer to connect it for two and a half years. That gap is widening.
Hyperscaler debt is piling up. Jefferies flagged this last week: Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta have issued $144 billion in bonds so far this year. That's up from $83 billion in all of 2025. More of the AI build is being financed with debt, not cash. Jefferies warns of "massive capital destruction" if AI returns don't show up. The four hyperscalers are down roughly 9% since late May and have trailed the S&P 500 by about 10 percentage points from their early-May peak. The market is starting to ask hard questions.
New England and the Northwest are exposed. NERC's summer assessment flagged two U.S. regions — New England and the Pacific Northwest — as facing "elevated risk" during extreme heat, though Grid Strategies' review disputed that finding. NERC says normal conditions are fine. But summers aren't normal anymore. This month's $2,000+ clearing prices in PJM showed what happens when the edge cases show up.
The equipment bottleneck, the debt wall, and the regional weak spots all point to the same conclusion: the grid is being asked to grow faster than the supply chain can build it.
• RESISTANCE
Florida Drew a Line. Indiana Built a Wall.
Eight days ago, a law took effect in Florida that no one in Big Tech wanted. SB 484 bans utilities from passing data center costs onto home and small-business ratepayers. It passed the state Senate 31–6. Governor DeSantis signed it in May.
Large-load users — those pulling 50+ MW — must now pay their own full cost of service. The risk of nonpayment can't fall on regular customers. Local governments keep the right to reject data center projects entirely.
Florida's SB 484 took effect July 1. It bars utilities from shifting data center electricity costs to homes and small businesses. Indiana now has 30 counties — nearly a third of the state — with data center restrictions: 11 ordinances, 17 moratoriums, and 2 outright bans. At the federal level, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez introduced the AI Data Center Moratorium Act, backed by more than 100 communities that have already enacted local moratoriums.
Indiana's story is even more striking. Thirty counties now restrict data centers. Marshall and Cass counties banned them outright. At Indianapolis's Metropolitan Development Commission meeting on July 1, residents packed the room to demand a pause on new approvals.
Brookings found that electricity costs have climbed 42% since 2019. Overall inflation rose 29% over the same period. Somebody is paying the difference. Voters are figuring out who.
The political math is simple. Data centers create few permanent jobs but add massive load. When your power bill goes up and a warehouse full of GPUs is the reason, you show up at the next zoning meeting.
*Disclaimer: Energy Exploration Technologies, Inc. (“EnergyX”) has engaged [Capital Current] to publish this communication in connection with EnergyX’s ongoing Regulation A offering. [Capital Current] has been paid $250 per lead___ in cash and may receive additional compensation. [Capital Current] and/or its affiliates do not currently hold securities of EnergyX.
This compensation and any current or future ownership interest could create a conflict of interest. Please consider this disclosure alongside EnergyX’s offering materials. EnergyX’s Regulation A offering has been qualified by the SEC. Offers and sales may be made only by means of the qualified offering circular. Before investing, carefully review the offering circular, including the risk factors. The offering circular is available at invest.energyx.com. Comparisons to other companies are for informational purposes only and should not imply similar results.
