Power costs in the United States are climbing at the same time the federal government is pulling back support for clean energy. Since President Donald Trump returned to office, average household energy bills have risen 13 percent, a spike that is landing hardest on families with the least room in their budgets. The political promise was cheaper power, but the early numbers point in the opposite direction, with policy choices on renewables and efficiency now colliding with a tightening electricity market.
Those higher bills are not a one-off blip. Analysts expect electricity prices to keep rising into 2026 as demand grows and new investment struggles to keep pace. With the administration cutting incentives that had been steering capital toward cheaper wind, solar, and efficiency upgrades, the cost of keeping the lights on is becoming a defining economic issue for millions of Americans.
The 13% spike and what it really means for households
When I talk about a 13 percent jump in power bills, I am not describing a theoretical model, I am describing what families are actually paying. A recent report found that Energy bills in US have increased 13% since Trump took office, a change large enough to erase the benefit of modest wage gains for many workers. For a household that used to spend $150 a month on electricity and gas, that kind of increase means paying close to $170, every single month, before buying groceries or making a car payment.
The pain is not evenly distributed. The same reporting notes that the surge is hitting low income families hardest, because they spend a larger share of their paychecks on basic utilities and have less ability to invest in insulation, new appliances, or rooftop solar that could blunt the impact. That is why the debate over Utility bills has become so charged, with advocates warning that higher costs are not just an inconvenience but a driver of energy insecurity and shutoffs.
How Trump’s “big bill” rewrote clean energy policy
The policy backdrop for these higher bills is The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, which President Trump signed after returning to the White House. According to energy policy researchers, The One Big Beautiful Bill Act significantly modifies clean energy and climate initiatives that had been steering billions of dollars toward renewables and efficiency. By scaling back those programs, OBBBA reduces long term support for projects that can lower operating costs and, over time, reduce the price of electricity on customer bills.
Those changes did not happen in isolation. In a separate move, President Trump approved legislation that slashed clean energy tax credits, a decision that directly affects the economics of new wind and solar farms. As the As the cut back to clean energy tax credits goes into effect, the Rhodium Group has estimated national average household energy expenditures could rise by $7 billion to $11 billion in 2035. That projection underscores how today’s policy choices on tax incentives are likely to echo in the form of higher monthly bills for years to come.
Clean energy cuts and the $170 hit to family budgets
For individual families, the most tangible effect of these policy shifts is the extra cash leaving their bank accounts each year. One analysis of the Trump administration’s signature energy law concluded that the clean energy cuts are expected to add $170 each year on average to household energy costs. That $170 may not sound dramatic in a political speech, but for a renter juggling student loans or a retiree on a fixed income, it can be the difference between paying the utility bill in full and falling behind.
The same assessment, framed around the question How will clean energy cuts in the law affect people’s wallets, links that extra $170 not only to higher bills but also to increased pollution that makes people sick. When tax credits and grants for renewables are cut, more power tends to come from older fossil fuel plants, which can raise both fuel costs and health costs. In that sense, the 13 percent spike in energy bills is only part of the story, layered on top of medical expenses and lost work days tied to dirtier air.
Evidence that bills are rising fastest where renewables are stalled
There is growing evidence that the sharpest bill increases are showing up in places where clean energy deployment has slowed or been blocked. A recent analysis of Gas and electric bills across the country found that residents in several regions are seeing especially steep hikes, and that those areas often overlap with states that have leaned heavily on fossil fuel generation. Analysts at the left leaning group behind that work argue that cutting support for renewables removes a key source of downward pressure on prices, particularly during peak demand.
Grassroots advocates make a similar point when they look at the national picture. One clean energy advocacy group highlighted how Americans across the country are struggling to pay higher utility bills and linked that hardship to the rollback of clean energy incentives. Their research ties the 13 percent increase in electric bills during Trump’s tenure to policy decisions that slowed the build out of cheaper wind and solar capacity, which could otherwise have displaced more expensive generation and cushioned households from price spikes.
Regional warning signs: four States facing “skyrocketing” costs
The national averages can obscure just how severe the situation is in certain parts of the country. A recent report on a New Law Could Make Electricity Bills Skyrocket in These 4 States warned that specific regions are poised for especially sharp increases. The Donald Trump administration has targeted the clean energy and climate programs that had been helping those States diversify their power mix, and the analysis concludes that households in the affected areas are expected to suffer the most as a result.
That national picture is echoed in more localized warnings. A video briefing aimed at consumers in the Mid Atlantic notes that if you live in Pennsylvania New Jersey or Delaware your electric bills are going up again in 2026, and yes they just went up. When multiple independent assessments are flagging the same pattern, from four States singled out for “skyrocketing” costs to specific warnings for Pennsylvania New Jersey and Delaware, it becomes harder to argue that the 13 percent national increase is a fluke rather than part of a broader trend.
Wholesale markets point to more pain ahead
Retail bills are ultimately shaped by what happens in wholesale power markets, and those markets are flashing their own warning lights. A recent Dive Brief on federal projections reported that Overall U.S. wholesale electricity prices are expected to continue rising next year, according to the Energy Informat agency that tracks energy data. The same outlook anticipates that average retail rates will climb between 2 percent and 3 percent in 2025 and 2.6 percent in 2026, suggesting that the 13 percent jump households have already experienced may not be the end of the story.
Other analysts looking at the latest consumer price index report have reached similar conclusions. One assessment warned that Electricity prices are expected to keep rising through 2026, with Dec data showing that power costs are already outpacing general inflation. When wholesale prices are climbing at the same time that policy is making it harder and more expensive to build new clean energy projects, the result is a squeeze that tends to show up first in monthly bills and then in political backlash.
Why cutting renewables can raise, not lower, power prices
Supporters of the Trump administration’s approach often argue that rolling back clean energy programs will lower costs by getting government “out of the way.” The emerging data suggest the opposite. By reducing tax credits and other incentives, OBBBA and related laws have made it more expensive to finance new wind and solar projects, even though those technologies have some of the lowest operating costs in the power sector. When fewer of those projects come online, utilities rely more heavily on plants that burn fuel, leaving customers exposed when fuel prices rise and when demand spikes during heat waves or cold snaps.
That dynamic is visible in the projections tied to the tax credit cuts. The Rhodium Group’s estimate that household energy expenditures could rise by $7 billion to $11 billion in 2035 as the cut back to clean energy tax credits takes full effect is essentially a forecast of what happens when cheaper resources are kept on the sidelines. In that context, the 13 percent increase in bills since Trump took office looks less like an accident and more like an early down payment on a longer term cost of abandoning the previous clean energy trajectory.
Electricity rates as a political flashpoint heading into 2026
Rising power bills are not just an economic story, they are rapidly becoming a political one. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average residential utility rate rose nearly 5 percent in the most recent year, on top of the earlier increases that produced the 13 percent jump since Trump took office. According to that same analysis, voters are increasingly telling pollsters that electricity bills are making basic living costs unaffordable, a sentiment that is already shaping campaign messages ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Political strategists in both parties see the trend as a potent issue. Supporters of the administration argue that short term pain is necessary to restore what they describe as energy dominance, while critics point to the combination of higher rates and reduced clean energy investment as a clear policy failure. As Dec polling and rate data filter into campaign ads, the phrase Electricity rising is likely to become shorthand for a broader argument about whether Trump’s energy agenda is helping or hurting ordinary households.
What a fairer energy policy could look like
If the goal is to reverse the 13 percent spike and shield families from further increases, the evidence points toward a different mix of policies than the one now in place. Restoring and strengthening clean energy tax credits would lower the cost of capital for new projects, helping utilities replace aging fossil fuel plants with cheaper wind and solar while also investing in storage and grid upgrades. Targeted assistance for low income households, such as expanded weatherization programs and direct bill support, could address the immediate strain while longer term investments take effect, echoing the “Lowering energy bills for low” income families language that advocates have used in the debate over MORE comprehensive reforms.
There is also room for a more honest conversation about trade offs. Policymakers who favor aggressive fossil fuel development should be clear about the risk that higher fuel costs will be passed directly to consumers, while clean energy advocates need to grapple with the challenges of integrating large amounts of variable generation into the grid. What the current data make clear is that cutting support for renewables has not delivered cheaper power. Instead, households are paying 13 percent more, with projections of further increases in 2026 and beyond, and the burden is falling heaviest on those least able to absorb it.
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Grant Mercer covers market dynamics, business trends, and the economic forces driving growth across industries. His analysis connects macro movements with real-world implications for investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals. Through his work at The Daily Overview, Grant helps readers understand how markets function and where opportunities may emerge.
