Trump’s Energy Crisis is Making Life Less Affordable for Americans Across the Country
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According to recent polling, utility prices are among the top three things causing strain on Americans’ budgets
Washington, D.C. – As Trump and Republicans play political games in Washington, Americans are already reeling from the impacts of Trump’s war on clean energy, which he made even worse by cancelling $8 billion in energy investments across the country. Trump’s war on clean energy has already cancelled or delayed 138 energy projects, causing supply-demand issues that will jack up utility costs even more. Household electric bills are up 10% nationally since Trump took office, and they are rising at twice the rate of inflation.
Just in the last week, rate hikes were being felt in states across the country including in Michigan, Kansas, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Here are the top headlines:
Michigan
MLive: Michigan’s largest power co-op raises rates to pay for ice storm that wrecked grid
Facing massive cleanup costs from the spring ice storm that decimated northern Michigan’s power grid and amid uncertainty around government disaster aid, the state’s largest power cooperative is raising rates.
Great Lakes Energy’s board approved an increase on Sept. 17 forecasted to push bills up about $17.18 a month for the average residential member…
While issuing the declaration in July, unlocking federal aid, President Donald Trump denied a category of assistance flowing to utilities, limiting what they can receive.
Kansas
The Topeka-Capital Journal: Evergy electric rates are going up. How much did Kansas regulators OK?
Electric bills will go up for Evergy customers in Topeka and much of Kansas after state utility regulators approved a settlement agreement…
Residential customers have the highest base rate increase, at about 9.6%. The main residential customer class will collectively pay about $61 million more. The small general service class will collectively pay about $25 million more, or about an 8.7% increase. The various classes used for medium and large commercial and industrial customers have the lowest percentage increase at about 8.4%…
In past testimony, KCC staff said the net effect is “the average residential customer will experience an increase of approximately $8.47 per month, based on average annual residential usage of 900 kWh. Based on the 900 kWh average residential customer usage and other existing rider charges, residential customers will experience a net increase of approximately 6.6% in the total customer bills.”
Delaware
Delaware Business Now: Chesapeake, Delmarva file for double-digit natural gas rate hikes
Delmarva Power and Chesapeake Utilities Corporation have filed for double-digit rate natural gas increases, according to the office of the Delaware Public Advocate…
Delmarva estimates that customers will see an overall increase of $11.33 a month or 13%, since the GCR is only one portion of a customer’s bill. Chesapeake estimates that customer bills will increase by $16.51 a month or 18.6% for a typical customer…
“This is a dramatic increase that will make utility bills more expensive for both Delmarva and Chesapeake customers,” said Jameson Tweedie, Delaware Public Advocate. “My office will carefully review both corporations’ applications to ensure customers are not overcharged, but because the GCR and GSR are pass-through costs, there is limited ability to challenge these increases.”
Pennsylvania
CBS News Philadelphia: PPL Electric seeks rate increase, says customers’ bills would rise by about $13 a month
PPL Electric, a major power company in our region, is seeking regulatory approval to raise rates next summer…
PPL says a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month would see their bill increase by about $13 a month if the price hike is approved…
CBS News’ MoneyWatch has reported electricity prices are surging across the nation due to multiple factors including the spread of data centers that power artitficial intelligence, the price of natural gas, inflation, and the increasing electrification of buildings and cars.