I’m not saying that the US isn’t already using an exorbitant amount of electricity per person, especially if you compare it to the global average. The point is that this graph indicates a lack of real growth. Because the GDP most certainly did increase over that same period of time, and if that growth was due to actual productive capabilities increasing, then you would expect to see a corresponding growth in electricity generation.

Moreover the population of the US actually grew by more than 20% (60 million people) over that same 20 year period, so even if you assume no industrial growth you would still expect to see more of a growth due to personal consumption. And i don’t think that personal consumption went down that much, so the only thing that you can conclude from this is that industry has not only been stagnating but actually shrinking.