Will Economic Development Accelerate PPL's Long-Term Earnings Growth?

PPL Corporation PPL benefits from ongoing economic development across its service territories, driven by expanding data center, advanced manufacturing and industrial investments. Rising electricity demand supports higher infrastructure spending, expands the regulated rate base and strengthens long-term earnings visibility.

Pennsylvania has emerged as a key data-center growth market for PPL. During the first quarter of 2026, PPL disclosed that projects in advanced planning stages reached 28.3 gigawatts (GW), up 12% sequentially from 25.2 GW, with nearly 10 GW under signed Electric Service Agreements and about 5 GW already under construction. The company's reliable transmission network and fast interconnection capabilities continue to attract hyperscale customers.

In Kentucky, projected load growth increased to 12.9 GW through 2032 from the previously 8.5 GW, supported by interest from 13 new data center projects representing nearly 12 GW of potential demand. Global Laser Enrichment and Toyota Motor Manufacturing also announced combined investments of $2.6 billion in PPL's service territory, prompting management to raise its expected new load to 3.5 GW by 2032 from 1.8 GW.

To support this growth, PPL plans to invest about $23 billion through 2029, driving 10.3% annual rate base growth and upper-end 6-8% EPS growth.

Economic Development Drives Long-Term Utility Growth

Utilities benefit from economic development as new businesses, industries and data centers, and electric vehicle usage increases electricity demand. This drives infrastructure investments, expands the regulated rate base, supports earnings growth and enhances long-term shareholder value.

Alliant Energy LNT is benefiting from ongoing economic development across its Iowa and Wisconsin service territories. The company is attracting data centers, advanced manufacturing facilities and other large industrial customers, increasing electricity demand while supporting regulated investments and long-term earnings growth.

Evergy EVRG is benefiting from robust economic development across Kansas and Missouri, as growing investments in data centers, advanced manufacturing and commercial projects drive higher electricity demand. Its expanding large-customer pipeline supports long-term rate-base expansion and earnings growth.

PPL’s Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 and 2027 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 7.67% and 8.08%, respectively.

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Debt to Capital

PPL's debt-to-capital ratio currently stands at 57.40%, lower than the electric power industry’s 60.71%.

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PPL’s Stock Price Performance

In the past month, the company’s shares have risen 6.2% compared with the industry’s 7.1% growth.

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PPL’s Zacks Rank

PPL currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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