Washington, D.C. — About 65 percent of electric utility customers and 59 percent of natural gas customers across the country are seeing rate increases, according to an updated analysis from the Center for American Progress and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Overall, customers are set to see a nearly $90 billion hike in their utility bills through 2028, the analysis finds. The increases are affecting more than 107 million electric customers and more than 46 million natural gas customers across 49 states and Washington, D.C.
These spikes are being driven by a combination of increasing demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, aging electric grids, extreme weather, higher natural gas prices, and the Trump administration’s irrational policy assault on new clean energy deployment.
Instead of addressing rising utility costs, the Trump administration has canceled projects for new energy supply, taken away support for grid resilience, issued massive new tariffs that worsen supply chain concerns, and increased consumer costs by forcing expensive coal plants to run past their scheduled retirements.
“Utility customers are suffering because of surging electricity bills, but the Trump administration is making it worse,” said Amanda Levin, director of policy analysis at the NRDC and co-author of the analysis. “While it keeps trying to prop up the struggling and expensive energy of the past century, it’s harming the fastest and cheapest sources of power that are ready to join the grid today. What a shame.”
The Trump administration’s attacks on clean energy and giveaways for the fossil fuel industry, coupled with the effects of rolling back clean energy tax credits, mean that American households could spend upward of $430 more per year on their energy bills within the next decade.
“Millions of Americans are struggling with higher utility bills. But the Trump administration insists on propping up the fossil fuel industry and taking away solutions that help lower costs for Americans,” said Lucero Marquez, associate director of federal climate policy at CAP and co-author of the analysis. “That means we will continue to see utility bills rise and have no relief for the Americans that need it.”
The updated tracker analyzed the rates of 210 utilities based on examination of online filings by the companies and records of decisions in state public utilities commission dockets. An earlier analysis, released in September, examined rates from 102 utilities.
Overall, the analysis finds that utilities around the country are raising costs on customers by $89.9 billion through 2028. About $71.2 billion of that increase is electric and $18.6 billion is natural gas.
Read the analysis: “Residents of 49 States and Washington, D.C., Face Increasing Electric and Natural Gas Bills” by Lucero Marquez, Amanda Levin, Akshay Thyagarajan, Jamie Friedman, and Shannon Baker-Branstetter
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected] or Mark Drajem at [email protected].