The utility industry should be scared—and this graph from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows why. It's commonly known that electricity demand faces stagnation in the U.S. and is not expected to rise significantly either in the short- and long-term. Couple that with ongoing disruption from new energy sources like wind and solar generation and their inability to recoup investments on much-needed infrastructure upgrades, and utilities have a problem.

Take a look: 

Electricity demand grew 9.8% annually from 1949 to 1959 compared to just 0.7% annually from 2000 to 2010. In the EIA projection, total electricity demand grows overall by 28% from 2011 to 2040, a rate of 0.9% growth annually.

There were variations in the different projections the EIA ran, with the EIA stating: "In the High Economic Growth case, demand grows by 42 percent from 2011 to 2040, compared with 18 percent in the Low Economic Growth case and only 7 percent in the Best Available Technology case."

This data only confirms what utilities have known for a while. The utility industry should necessarily not paralyze itself with fear, but it does need to see the writing on the wall and act fast to survive.