Widespread utility bill increases spark debate over renewable energy
Many Americans are seeing their utility bills increase. Across 41 states, utility companies have asked for an increase in how much money they can charge customers, according to a recent analysis from the Center for American Progress.
Analysts at the left-leaning policy institute found that 102 gas and electric utility companies have raised rates or proposed increases that will take effect in 2025 or 2026. The increases will affect about 81 million ratepayers, nearly 50% of the nation’s electricity customers, and more than one-third of natural gas customers.
“It’s getting really hard to make ends meet, and I think a lot of families are going to be facing tough decisions,” said Lucero Marquez, associate director of federal climate policy at the Center for American Progress.
Utility bills are creeping up as America’s electric grid faces rising power demand from artificial intelligence data centers. The rate increase proposals also come as the Trump administration is shifting federal support away from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, instead backing nuclear, natural gas and coal. Increasing costs for consumers have been a salient political issue, with progressive groups casting blame on climate change and shifting federal policy. In contrast, conservative groups say policies promoting renewable energy are the cause.
How much are electric bills going up?
When a utility company wants to increase rates for businesses and families, they have to file a request with state regulators. The Center for American Progress compiled public data from filings to public utility commissions and found increases vary by region.
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At least 41 states are already experiencing or will soon experience electricity and natural gas bill increases.
Kenny Stein, vice president for policy at the Institute for Energy Research, told Straight Arrow News that higher bills are “really driven by this massive demand increase from AI and data centers.”
Florida Power and Light, serving 6 million customers, requested $4.2 billion in additional revenue from 2026 through 2029, translating to an average $4.55 monthly increase for residential customers. Duke Energy Indiana won approval for an 11% rate increase affecting 810,000 customers, adding an average of $18.76 to monthly bills starting in February 2025.
Some utilities are seeking even steeper percentage increases. El Paso Electric in Texas requested a 23.23% rate increase that would add an average of $22.39 to monthly bills for 356,883 customers. Idaho Power seeks a 17.35% increase, which would raise the average monthly bill by $21.66 for 640,000 customers, starting in 2026.
In total, the analysis shows that Americans could pay $67 billion more for electricity and $11 billion more for gas through 2028. In Virginia, home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers, Dominion Energy proposed raising the average customer’s electric bill by $21 monthly by 2027, with about half taking effect in July 2025.
Is President Trump breaking his promise?
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump said he would cut Americans’ electric bills by 50% within a year and a half of his inauguration.
“He’s breaking his promise,” Marquez said in an interview with SAN.
The rise of AI data centers is one factor contributing to increasing prices. Still, Marquez said utility companies are also citing the need to upgrade infrastructure to counter the threat of wildfires and extreme weather, rising costs for natural gas and the desire to increase profits. The cost of maintaining the transmission and distribution power lines is also increasing.
In July, Congress passed a reconciliation package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which adopted earlier deadlines for wind and solar projects to qualify for federal tax credits. Marquez said the faster phase-out of renewable energy subsidies will lead to even higher electric bills because fewer projects will be built.
“The consistent attack on renewables is going to hurt Americans,” Marquez said. Moreover, she criticized the push to keep coal power plants open, saying coal is “the worst for our environment and our health.”
Stein said Trump should not have set up expectations of lower utility bills because “electricity prices are very much still state-driven.” However, Stein favors the policy shift away from incentivizing renewable energy.
Is renewable energy to blame?
Conservative groups have backed the Trump administration’s shift away from renewables, arguing that decades of pro-renewable policies are a driving force behind utility rate increases.
“Soaring electricity demand should be good news because it means that your industries are flourishing,” said Mario Loyola, senior fellow in law, economics and technology at the Heritage Foundation.
In an interview with SAN, Loyola said, “Our electricity supply should be elastic enough to accommodate all the new demand that’s coming from the data center boom.” Instead, he says that the electric supply hasn’t kept up with projected demand due to “regulations that have constrained grid capacity.”
Loyola pointed to state-level renewable energy mandates, tax credits, and environmental regulations that incentivized utilities to build more wind and solar while shutting down or regulating coal-fired power plants. As more solar is added, Loyola said it needs a backup supply that can quickly provide power to the grid when the sun isn’t shining. That dispatchable electricity comes from gas power plants.
Because utilities have to back up renewables with power from natural gas, Loyola said consumers end up “paying for all this redundant power,” adding that “there should be hundreds of power plants under construction in the United States right now.”
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