Feb 4 (Reuters) - WEC Energy Group ( WEC ) said on

Tuesday that its profit more than doubled in the fourth quarter,

with the electric utility benefiting from lower operating

expenses and higher revenue as it grows its service to data

centers like Microsoft ( MSFT ).

U.S. power companies like Milwaukee-based WEC Energy ( WEC ) are

welcoming a rise in electricity demand from the recent

proliferation of AI data centers along with the electrification

of buildings and industries.

WEC is planning to supply electricity to a $3.3 billion

Microsoft ( MSFT ) data center campus being developed in southeast

Wisconsin, as reports come in that the technology giant is

buying up more land in the state.

Data center power demand in the United States is expected to

nearly triple in the next three years and consume as much as 12%

of the country's electricity, according to a study by Lawrence

Berkeley National Laboratory.

WEC is planning for 1,800 megawatts of added power

demand over the next five years. That plan doesn't include the

development of a 1,700-acre Wisconsin data center campus, which

was announced this year by Cloverleaf Infrastructure, WEC

executives said on a conference call.

The site, which was initially expected to amount to 1

gigawatt of capacity, may end up being much larger, WEC

executives said.

Construction on the site may begin in the fall, but it

would likely be between 2028 and 2029 before energy begins to

substantially increase to the site, WEC said.

As data center development ramps up, utilities like WEC are

racing to develop power agreements with terms aimed specifically

at these new major customers.

"We're actively working with very large customers on

tariffs," WEC CEO Scott Lauber said.

Residential power use rose 0.5% while electricity

consumption by small commercial and industrial customers rose

0.7% in 2024, compared to a decline in 2023.

The utility reported total operating expenses of $1.69

billion in the fourth quarter, a drop from $1.88 billion last

year, with sales costs down about 3% to $738.4 million.

Revenue for the fourth quarter rose about 3% to $2.28

billion from a year earlier.

WEC provides electricity and gas to nearly 4.7 million

customers in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.