Electricity Bills Up 13% Across USA as Trump Axes Green Energy Programs

One Year Later, the Opposite Happened

During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump made a bold promise to American voters: elect him, and he would slash energy and electricity prices in half within 12 months.

He repeated the pledge at rally after rally in battleground states like Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

One year into his second term, households across the country are opening their utility bills to find the opposite has happened.

Electricity costs have climbed 13% since January 2025, outpacing inflation by more than double.

The reasons involve a collision of policy choices, surging demand from AI data centers, and a war on renewable energy that experts say is backfiring on consumers.

The 50% Promise That Vanished

“I will cut your energy and electricity prices in half, 50% within 12 months of taking the oath of office,” Trump told a Pennsylvania crowd in September 2024.

He made similar pledges in North Carolina, Michigan, and Indiana, calling it one of the easiest promises to keep.

At a North Carolina rally, he declared that Americans would never have energy so low as under his leadership. The promise helped him win over voters frustrated by inflation.

A key post-election poll showed Trump enjoyed a 39-point advantage among voters who cited price inflation as their reason for supporting him.

Now, with electricity prices climbing month after month, that advantage is turning into a liability.

Five Wind Farms Frozen at Sea

In December 2025, the Trump administration paused leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction along the East Coast, citing national security risks identified by the Pentagon.

The halted projects include Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, the largest in the country, along with Vineyard Wind off Massachusetts, Revolution Wind off Rhode Island, and two projects in New York.

Together, the five projects represent nearly six gigawatts of new electricity that was set to come online in the next few years.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed offshore wind creates radar interference that poses risks to national security, but the administration did not detail specific threats.

Developers and states have filed lawsuits calling the move arbitrary and unconstitutional.

Solar and Wind Credits Slashed

On July 4, 2025, Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which significantly changed the clean energy tax credit landscape. The law ended the 30% residential solar tax credit for homeowners on December 31, 2025.

Wind and solar facilities that begin construction after July 4, 2026 are ineligible for production tax credits if placed in service after December 31, 2027.

The bill also eliminated the $7,500 tax credit for most new electric vehicles by the end of 2025.

The Center for American Progress estimated that if clean energy tax credits were fully repealed, average household utility bills would increase by more than $110 per year by 2026.

Low-Income Energy Aid Gutted

On April 1, 2025, the Trump administration fired the entire LIHEAP program staff at the Department of Health and Human Services.

LIHEAP is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps families pay heating and cooling bills. The program typically serves about 6 million low-income households annually, distributing roughly $4.1 billion. Trump’s proposed 2026 budget zeroed out funding for the program entirely.

The administration called the program unnecessary, citing a 15-year-old fraud report whose recommendations were implemented by 2014.

Consumer advocates warn that without LIHEAP, vulnerable families could face dangerous conditions or even death during extreme temperatures.

Data Centers Devour the Grid

Data centers could consume between 6. 7% and 12% of all U.S. electricity by 2028, according to the Department of Energy.

These massive facilities power artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cryptocurrency mining, and their appetite for electricity is growing faster than new power plants can be built.

One retired couple in Ohio tracked their electricity costs on a spreadsheet and watched their rate climb from about 12 cents per kilowatt hour in 2020 to 19 cents in 2025, a 60% jump.

The price to secure power capacity in the PJM grid region has exploded, with $23 billion in costs attributable to data centers that will ultimately be passed to consumers.

21 Million Households in Debt

Around 21 million U. S. households are currently behind on their utility bills as of late 2025, with total household energy debt reaching about $23 billion. The average overdue balance climbed from $597 in 2022 to $789 in 2025, a 32% increase.

Residential electricity prices rose by 10. 5% between January and August 2025, one of the fastest increases in a decade.

In the South and Appalachia, about one in 12 households has utility debt severe enough to be sent to collections. An estimated 3.5 million American households had their power cut off at some point in 2024.

Bills Rising Twice as Fast as Inflation

As of the end of July 2025, electricity prices had surged 5. 5% over the prior 12 months, just over twice the pace of overall inflation.

Some states have been hit much harder. Residential electricity prices spiked 26% in Maine, 25% in New Jersey, 15% in Wyoming, 15% in Utah, and 14% in Illinois compared to the prior year.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects prices will be 16% higher in 2026 than in 2025, primarily due to increased liquefied natural gas exports.

Only a handful of states saw prices fall, including Nevada, which dropped 26% after adding significant solar capacity.

Old Coal Plants Forced to Stay Open

The Trump administration has issued emergency orders to keep coal-fired power plants online past their scheduled retirement dates, overriding decisions by plant owners and state regulators.

When the Energy Department ordered a 60-year-old Michigan coal plant called J. H. Campbell to stay online, local officials warned the move would prove costly for consumers.

A recent analysis found that the added costs of forcing aging coal plants to keep operating could exceed $3 billion per year.

Coal is not only the most polluting source of electricity but also among the most expensive to operate. Critics say the administration is propping up fossil fuels at the direct expense of ratepayers.

White House Blames Everyone Else

When asked about rising prices, a White House spokesperson told reporters that fixing the energy crisis Joe Biden created has been a priority for Trump since day one.

The administration says blue states like California and Maine have implemented policies that make electricity unaffordable.

Trump recently claimed at the United Nations that concerns about energy affordability are a con job by Democrats and that polls showing voter concerns are fake.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said prices will decline later in the term as policies take effect, but even some Republicans are skeptical, with one former Trump EPA advisor saying he doesn’t see prices going down.

Democrats Smell Blood for 2026

Democrats plan to hammer Republicans over electricity prices in 2026, calling rising bills part of a broader affordability crisis.

“Electricity costs are the new eggs,” said Christina Polizzi of Climate Power, referring to the grocery prices that dominated the 2024 campaign.

Democrats won off-year gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey in part by messaging on utility affordability.

Senator Elizabeth Warren led a letter to six Trump cabinet secretaries asking why they are cutting programs to help Americans pay energy costs while eliminating incentives for wind and solar.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says rising bills will remind voters that Republicans failed to deliver on their central promise.

No Relief Coming Anytime Soon

The U. S. Energy Information Administration forecasts average residential utility rates will rise another 4% between 2025 and 2026. Total U.S. electricity consumption is projected to rise from about 4,110 billion kilowatt hours in 2024 to more than 4,260 billion kilowatt hours in 2026.

Demand is growing faster than supply, driven by data centers, electric vehicles, and the electrification of heating. A University of Texas professor told reporters that supply simply cannot keep up.

With renewable projects stalled, clean energy incentives gutted, and aging fossil plants straining to meet demand, experts say the math points in one direction: higher bills, for longer, with no clear end in sight.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• Trump Promised to Cut Energy Bills in Half. They Rose 13% Instead
• Trump Wants His Supporters to Drop MAGA for a Name Nobody Can Pronounce
• Trump Tariff Revenue Falls for First Time, Threatening Debt Payoff Plan