Regional Energy Pressures Are Rising: Here’s How Higher Ed Can Respond

Across the U.S., energy costs are climbing, and higher education institutions are being hit especially hard. At the same time, falling enrollment rates, costly infrastructure, and pressures to electrify mean university budgets are tighter than ever. The graphic below outlines key regional energy price projections through 2030.

We know how important it is for energy management teams in higher ed to quantify their results, prove their success, and justify ongoing investment. Below, we break down what’s happening in each region and offer practical recommendations for how colleges and universities can identify savings opportunities and increase resilience. 

Western U.S. Challenge

Prolonged drought continues to reduce hydroelectric capacity, while wildfires threaten transmission infrastructure and cause reliability concerns. Surging data center growth, especially throughout Arizona and NorCal, is placing additional strain on the grid. Meanwhile, renewable energy projects are facing delays due to interconnection bottlenecks, permitting hurdles, and rising development costs.

Recommendations: Start by analyzing your peak demand charges—data centers and electrification are shifting load curves. Align building schedules with utility Time-of-Use windows, especially in the summer. If you’re in a wildfire-prone area, monitor usage closely for anomalies during outages or rerouting events, and understand how resiliency credits or tariffs may apply. 

Northeast Challenge

This region has the oldest grid in the country, driving up baseline costs and increasing reliability concerns. Population expansion is intensifying usage on already overburdened systems, increasing the risk of outages even as prices rise.  

Recommendations: Conduct a facility-wide rate code review to ensure your buildings are on the correct tariff schedules. Aging infrastructure increases the likelihood of billing errors, so prioritize bill audits and field verification of meters. Use benchmarking to identify the highest cost-per-square-foot buildings and investigate efficiency or HVAC scheduling issues there.

South/Southeast Challenge

Extreme weather like hurricanes and heatwaves is stressing systems and driving up energy costs. At the same time, industrial growth, university system expansion, and a surge in data center development are increasing overall demand, putting additional pressure on the grid 

Recommendations: Map your HVAC runtime schedules to building occupancy and revisit them seasonally. Perform post-storm reviews of utility data to detect surges, leaks, or irregularities. If you’re in a storm-prone zone, ensure you know which meters or systems should receive backup priority.

Midwest/Atlantic Challenge

Some of the heaviest grid usage in the country happens here, driven by large campuses, dense metros, and growing data center demand. Aging infrastructure and high baseline energy prices are compounding the strain, making it harder for institutions to manage cost and reliability 

Recommendations: Audit interval data to uncover demand spikes, which are often linked to older HVAC or lighting systems running off-hours. Reassess load factors and power factor penalties, and verify the accuracy of any billing multipliers or rate structures, particularly if you’ve added buildings or meters recently. 

Northwest/Mountain West Challenge

Transmission bottlenecks are slowing the integration of new renewable projects, limiting the region’s ability to scale clean energy reliably. At the same time, rapid tech-sector growth (especially in cities like Denver, Boise, and Salt Lake City) is reshaping demand patterns and driving up overall load. 

Recommendations: Explore ways to shift flexible loads to times when clean energy is more available. Recommission building automation systems to better reflect occupancy and seasonality. Prioritize demand-side management strategies, especially during constrained periods.

Texas Challenge

Prices may be more stable, but demand growth, extreme heat, and decentralization still bring complexity. 

Recommendations: Review and refine building-level energy profiles. Take full advantage of ERCOT market rules—many schools are overspending due to misaligned demand and scheduling. If your billing is demand-based, even small shifts in runtime strategy can yield meaningful savings.

Natural Gas Nationwide Challenge

The cost of natural gas is expected to rise 24% in 2025, with potential increases of up to 90% by 2030. 

Recommendations: Inventory gas-consuming systems by building. Understand your seasonal usage patterns, and forecast how rate increases will affect your budget. For older buildings, consider a fuel-switching analysis, or at least tighten runtime controls during shoulder seasons. 

What if, instead of rising costs, your bills stayed the same—or even went down?

All of these strategies are achievable, but finding the time, knowing which savings opportunities to pursue, and proving the impact of your team is nearly impossible when you’re buried in spreadsheets and siloed systems. 

That’s where EnergyCAP comes in. By centralizing your energy and utility data, automating complex processes, and surfacing cost-saving errors and insights, EnergyCAP gives you the clarity, speed, and control to stay ahead of rising costs and demonstrate your impact with confidence. It’s everything you need to manage energy smarter, and our platform is custom built for the job.