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By Varun Sahay

May 6 (Reuters) - U.S. utility Exelon EXC.O raised its capital expenditure plan and beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter adjusted profit on Wednesday, driven by higher electricity prices, strong demand and favorable weather.

With tech giants racing to build data centers to support complex artificial intelligence-related tasks, U.S. utilities are stepping up their capital expenditure budgets to keep pace with the surge in power demand.

Exelon too increased its projected capital expenditures for the next four years to $41.7 billion, up from $41.3 billion previously.

On the post-earnings call, executives said the company and Invenergy had bid on two Illinois transmission projects in regional grid operator MISO's Tranche 2.1 process, worth roughly $1.9 billion.

They added that Exelon's data-center pipeline is supported by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-approved transmission security agreements, with roughly $1 billion in associated collateral.

The company now expects the value of its transmission assets for rate-setting purposes to grow 16% through 2029, while its overall regulated asset base is expected to increase 7.9%.

Regulated utilities rely on rate-case processes to determine how much customers are charged for electricity, natural gas and services such as private water and steam.

Meanwhile, net income at Exelon's Commonwealth Edison unit (ComEd), Illinois' largest electric utility, rose slightly to $310 million.

Earnings at its PECO unit, Pennsylvania's largest electric and natural gas utility, rose 4.5% to $278 million.

Exelon reported an overall revenue of $7.24 billion for the quarter ended March 31, beating analysts' average estimate of $6.93 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The Chicago-based company's adjusted profit came in at 91 cents per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of 89 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.