Public Service Enterprise beats quarterly profit estimates on increased energy demand

Aug 5 (Reuters) - Public Service Enterprise Group PEG.N on Tuesday beat second-quarter profit estimates, boosted by higher electricity demand in June as homes and businesses ramped up air conditioning during hot weather conditions.

Hotter-than-normal temperatures in June boosted power demand at a time when utilities across the U.S. are already contending with record usage tied to the growth of data centers and electrification trends.

"We successfully operated through three consecutive days of 100°F temperatures, prompting high electricity usage that set a summer peak load of 10,229 MW on June 24th, the highest system load we have experienced since 2013," said Ralph LaRossa, PSEG's CEO.

Total operating revenue rose about 15% to $2.8 billion in the quarter.

The utility also reaffirmed its full-year operating earnings forecast of $3.94 to $4.06 per share.

PSEG Power reported a second-quarter nuclear output of 7.5 terawatt hours, up from 0.5 TWh from last year, following a 2024 Hope Creek outage.

Nuclear energy, which is virtually carbon-free, has garnered renewed interest from investors and companies, with Big Tech increasingly signing power supply deals with nuclear power plants.

PSEG said large load service inquiries, primarily from existing and potential data center customers, surged to more than 9,400 megawatts as of June 30, from 6,400 MW at the end of March.

The company posted adjusted profit of 77 cents per share for the three months ended June 30, compared with the analysts' average estimate of 70 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.