This gap is being driven by rapidly increasing electricity demand from data centers, electric vehicles, air conditioners, heat pumps and population growth, by ending production by coal combustion, and by insufficient production expansion by wind, solar, hydro and nuclear power.

Utilities abhor blackouts because their customers do as well. This raises the big question: are public utilities required to provide all the power that is requested?

While English Common Law in the Middle Ages held public utilities obligated to serve all within the service area who request service, and Washington State Law states that "every electrical company, ... shall, upon reasonable notice, furnish to all persons and corporations who may apply ... suitable facilities for furnishing ... all available electricity, as demanded," they are not obligated to serve more customers if they lack sufficient capacity.

However, in certain circumstances, a utility with insufficient capacity can be required to expand its facilities as needed. In particular, if capacity can be added, public utilities are obligated to expand capacity if current capacity is insufficient to meet growing demand, even if doing so will increase electricity rates for existing customers.

Utilities are not going to commit to producing power that they lack capacity to deliver.

Their customer approval process allows them to decline permit applications based on the utility's capacity and their ability to increase it. That means some of the proposed additional demand will not be approved unless the prospects for increasing supply improve.

One reason that production growth is not meeting projections of demand is that the approval process for adding power production is exceedingly slow.

Federal law allows a six-year statute of limitations for filing lawsuits challenging proposed electrical infrastructure. Congress is considering energy infrastructure permit reform that will greatly accelerate the process by, among other changes, substantially shortening the statute of limitations.

Of the drivers of increasing demand in the Pacific Northwest, most involve households that would be very unpopular to deny.

Increasing household use without increasing in electrical panel amperage cannot be regulated, although voluntary conservation programs have been helpful in slowing growth in household consumption. Denying household panel upgrades would be met with strong objections.

That leaves wholesale use, such as industrial plants (such as those producing aluminum), and data centers (which support internet use such as browsing, streaming, online commerce, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)).

Blackouts can be avoided in two ways. One is to partner with wholesale customers to dedicate new electricity production next to the sites using the power. That greatly simplifies the environmental approval process because little transmission is required.

For example, Amazon is partnering with Energy Northwest to build four Small Modular Reactors to power adjacent data servers for its browsing and transactions. Similarly, Microsoft is funding the resurrection of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to be dedicated to cloud computing and AI.

Blackouts can also be avoided by limiting the electrical use by a wholesale customer to periods when production exceeds the rest of demand. The customer gets a lower rate because market conditions are favorable when the customer draws on power. This approach works particularly well for data centers, which can distribute centers broadly so that excess power production is always available somewhere near where it is needed.

Similarly, smart charging of EVs chooses charging at times of day when production is greatest or the price of power is least. Smart charging both reduces EV charging costs and, by using EV batteries to store power, makes the electrical grid more resilient.

Electricity price matters too, of course. One of Benton PUD's goals is to "Maintain Reliable, Environmentally Responsible, and Least-Cost Power Supply."

Thanks primarily to abundant but not unlimited hydroelectric production, we enjoy electricity rates that are among the lowest in the country. But our rates will rise if production does not increase with demand or if the cost of new production is higher than the current cost.

In some regions, electricity rates have risen primarily because of the cost of updating, expanding and hardening transmission lines. Energy infrastructure permit reform can help reduce the cost of expanding production and transmission.

Benton PUD requires new customers to pay the whole cost of new production if it's for the exclusive benefit of the customer: "If a customer desires to alter load significantly, the customer shall notify the District sufficiently in advance so that the District may, if economically feasible, provide the facilities required."

So, what can be done to prevent blackouts and increasing cost of electricity?

Permit reforms, co-location of production and load, and smart, flexible use of electricity. Some data centers might have to wait.