Residential electricity prices rose an average of 14 percent in the past 12 months, with some regions including parts of New England, California, and Texas seeing increases of 25 percent or more. The drivers vary by region, including grid modernization costs, extreme weather that stresses infrastructure, transition away from cheap coal generation, and rising demand from data centers and EV charging.
The political salience of electricity costs has surprised analysts. Inflation in most categories has moderated, but electricity bills arrive monthly and carry an emotional weight for families on fixed incomes. Several congressional races are being fought partly on utility regulation issues that would typically attract little attention. State public utility commissions, normally obscure regulatory bodies, are drawing unusual public scrutiny.
