Alliant Energy Corporation

Alliant Energy Corporation is a Wisconsin-based regulated investor-owned public utility holding company that provides electric and natural gas service to approximately 1,010,000 electric and 435,000 natural gas customers across Iowa and Wisconsin through its two primary operating subsidiaries, Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL) and Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL).

This is a story about a staid Midwest utility that has become one of the more interesting load-growth bets in the sector. Alliant Energy has signed electric service agreements representing roughly three gigawatts of peak demand from data center customers — a 50% increase over its current system peak — and management reports active discussions on another two to four gigawatts beyond that. The capital spending required to serve this load is enormous: a four-year plan totaling approximately $13.4 billion, funded by a mix of operating cash flow, debt, hybrid securities, and up to $2.4 billion of common equity. The file turns on a single question: whether the data center load materializes on time and at sufficient scale to justify the rate base build-out, or whether Alliant Energy ends up with assets built for growth that never arrives.

The bull case is straightforward: load growth at a utility with constructive regulation in both jurisdictions, a four-year retail electric base rate moratorium in Iowa through 2029, and a decade-long track record of 6%-plus annual EPS growth. The bear case is equally straightforward: data center customers are footloose — one already relocated across state lines — and the balance sheet carries $12.1 billion of debt against $7.3 billion of equity, with substantial additional leverage coming.