What can best ease transmission bottlenecks? More transfer capacity, DOE says.

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a draft report looking at where the nation's power grid gets clogged and what would help. The main finding: building more capacity to move electricity between regions — say, from Texas's grid to its neighbors, or between the eastern and western halves of the country — would do the most to ease bottlenecks and keep power flowing when supply is tight.

This kind of congestion has real costs. Nationally, it added $12 billion to wholesale power costs in 2024, up from $11 billion in 2023 (though still below the $21 billion hit in 2022, a year of high gas prices and extreme weather). The Southeast stood out as a region that would benefit especially from more transmission links with neighboring areas, worth roughly $10 per megawatt-hour on average, according to the analysis. It's also the only region that hasn't yet addressed at least one of the grid problems DOE tracks, such as reliability gaps or resource shortfalls.

None of this changes anything at your house right away — this is a planning study, not a rule or a rebate program. But steady, rising congestion costs like these are one reason wholesale electricity prices trend upward over time, which can show up later in utility bills. DOE is taking public comments on the draft report until September 7, and it will help guide transmission planning across the country in the coming years.