Adds data center demand details, updates company share prices

Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Northeast electric and gas utility Public Service Enterprise Group PEG.N on Tuesday raised its capital investment plan as interest from large power loads like AI data centers jumped.

Power companies in the United States are hiking up spending plans to build new electricity supplies and bolster the grid in the face of record demand this year as Big Tech pours in billions of dollars into developing artificial intelligence technologies and the infrastructure needed to support them.

PSEG now expects to spend $22.5 billion to $26 billion over 2025 to 2029, an increase of $3.5 billion from its prior five-year plan.

Meanwhile, the company's pipeline of potential new very large power customers, including data centers, in New Jersey has jumped to 4,700 megawatts (MW) from about 400 MW in early 2024, PSEG executives said on a company earnings call.

The updated capex plan is expected to keep the company's long-term, compound annual growth rate for adjusted earnings steady at 5% to 7% through 2029.

PSEG lays claim to multiple nuclear power generating units on Artificial Island in New Jersey, and company executives said they are exploring possible agreements to sell electricity from the plants to data centers.

Nuclear power plants , which supply around-the-clock electricity that is virtually carbon free, have become a sought-after power supply source for data center developers.

PSEG expects its current-year adjusted profit to be between $3.94 and $4.06 per share, the midpoint of which is about 9% higher than the 2024 earnings.

The company provides electric and gas services to about 4.3 million customers across New Jersey. It also operates nuclear-generating assets through its PSEG Power segment.

The Newark, New Jersey-based company posted an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share for the three months ended December 31, compared with analysts' average estimate of 83 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Shares of the company were down 2.6% in midday trading.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York and Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Marguerita Choy)

((Srivastava.Vallari@thomsonreuters.com;))