A $1.3 trillion utility splurge puts an electrification ETF ahead of sector funds

U.S. utilities plan to spend $1.3 trillion from 2026 through 2030 on grid modernization and AI-driven power demand, according to Regulatory Research Associates estimates cited by ETF Trends. That is the setting for the ALPS Electrification Infrastructure ETF (ELFY), a year-old fund that competes with utilities strategies while holding utilities as a minority stake.

Utilities account for 35.67% of the portfolio, ETF Trends reports. Industrial and energy names together exceed 45%. The fund is up more than 22% year to date. That is roughly six times the gain of a typical utilities benchmark. S&P Global Market Intelligence projects data centers and factory reshoring will add 374 TWh of energy demand through 2035. It also sees more than 45 GW of peak load in that period. The demand reaches the industrial sleeve as much as the regulated utilities.

VettaFi is the index administrator and calculation agent for ELFY and receives a fee; the fund is not issued, sponsored, or sold by VettaFi. Index watchers will notice that ELFY tracks an electrification-infrastructure index, not a utilities index. That lets the fund appear in thematic screens. Its utility-heavy composition also invites comparison to sector funds on performance tables. The $1.3 trillion spending cycle is about to test which label matters more.