Households to Pay More for Energy      10/02 06:16

   

   (AP) -- Households in the contiguous United States will pay thousands of 
dollars more for energy through 2040 because of federal policy changes since 
President Donald Trump returned to office, according to modeling released 
Friday by a nonpartisan think tank.

   The Energy Innovation analysis found that households will pay an average of 
$6,500 more for energy, cumulatively through 2040. In five states, households 
will pay roughly $9,000 more: Oregon, Mississippi, South Dakota, Virginia and 
Wyoming.

   The California-based think tank said there will be more demand for natural 
gas for electricity because the administration is canceling new clean energy 
projects and there will be more demand for gasoline for transportation because 
Trump and Congress are revoking policies that encouraged or created incentives 
for more efficient and lower-emissions vehicles. Higher demand drives prices up.

   Electricity bills are already rising faster than inflation in much of the 
U.S., which is being blamed in some areas on demand from data centers. The Iran 
war has sent oil and gasoline prices sharply higher, too.

   Contrarily, Trump has said his administration's energy policies will make 
bills more affordable for families and businesses. White House spokeswoman 
Taylor Rogers said Wednesday that lowering electricity prices remains a top 
priority and Trump is unleashing reliable energy like coal and natural gas to 
reverse the "catastrophic damage" Democrats did to the power grid by ramping up 
clean energy. A 2025 Department of Energy report, mandated by Trump, warned of 
increasing blackouts if the U.S. continued closing coal and natural gas plants.

   "Joe Biden created a grid crisis; President Trump is fixing it," Rogers 
wrote in an email. "If the Democrats had their way, these costly and unreliable 
renewable energy projects would still be failing our grid and our communities."

   The Republican president prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity, 
unlike Biden, who saw clean energy as a climate solution.

   Analysis examined impact on states solely from federal policy changes 

   It focused on the sweeping package of tax breaks that slashed funding for 
clean energy tax credits, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, Trump signed; 
environmental rollbacks, including clean air and power plant rules and the 
revocation of a scientific finding that underpinned the U.S. fight against 
climate change; the loosening of fuel economy standards and blocking of 
California's novel rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035; and 
federal actions to stop wind, solar and hydrogen projects.

   These changes will result in annual household energy costs rising in every 
state in the contiguous U.S., plus job losses in 47 of 48 states and losses to 
the gross domestic product in 46 states, Energy Innovation said. It's 
projecting 37,000 additional premature deaths from air pollution, $72 billion 
in additional healthcare costs and more than 9 billion tons of additional 
carbon pollution because of the environmental rollbacks. The analysis did not 
include Alaska or Hawaii because key federal data is not available for those 
two states, said Robbie Orvis, senior director for modeling and analysis.

   Looking at the metrics, Orvis was hard-pressed to find a silver lining.

   "Across pretty much every state, things are worse. The outlook now is worse 
for states and the affordability crisis will be worse because of the combined 
set of policies," he said.

   Climate Justice Alliance legislative director Mar Zepeda said her 
Washington, D.C., electric bill increased $200 in the past month. Zepeda said 
electricity demands from data centers are increasing energy rates, and federal 
"affordability" policies only exacerbate this.

   "They may call it affordability, but affordable for whom and at what cost? 
Not for regular people," Zepeda said in an email.

   White House says the think tank is partisan 

   Rogers said it is "irresponsible" to classify Energy Innovation as 
nonpartisan because its employees have donated to Democrats and worked with 
Democrats on climate policy.

   Spokesman Silvio Marcacci said they work with policymakers who want to cut 
emissions and lower bills, regardless of party. He said multiple states led by 
Republicans have used their tool designed to model policies affecting energy 
use and emissions. Much of their data comes from government sources, including 
the Energy Information Administration.

   Rogers also said states led by Democrats that have embraced aggressive 
renewable mandates see higher energy costs, notably California and New York. 
She said this proves Republican policies are working. The conservative think 
tank, Institute for Energy Research, said in December that blue states have 
high rates.

   However, in the Energy Innovation analysis, three of the five states facing 
the highest costs have Republican governors, and states that voted for Trump in 
2024 will pay an average of $7,000 more in energy spending cumulatively per 
household, versus $5,800 on average per household in states that voted for 
Kamala Harris. Its research has found that states with high levels of wind and 
solar generation, including Republican-led Iowa and Oklahoma, have experienced 
the lowest rate increases.

   The average price residential customers pay for electricity increased over 
the course of Biden's term and has continued to rise since Trump returned to 
office, according to EIA data. Customers paid an average of about 12.6 cents 
per kilowatt-hour in January 2021 when Biden took office. In January 2025, when 
Trump returned to office, that price stood at nearly 16 cents per 
kilowatt-hour. It was 17.45 cents in January 2026 and 18.31 cents in July.

   Oregon households' annual energy spending slated to increase the most 

   The modeling projects federal policy changes will increase annual energy 
spending in Oregon by $840 per household in 2035 and $1,200 per household in 
2040, with a cumulative $9,300 increase from 2026 to 2040 -- the highest of any 
state.

   The Oregon Citizens' Utility Board advocates for residential utility 
customers. Executive Director Bob Jenks called those numbers "frightening" 
because Oregon already has an energy affordability problem. He cited steep rate 
increases as utilities make upgrades and data centers use more power.

   As costs rise, Jenks expects utilities to disconnect more households because 
people won't be able to afford their bills.

   Jenks said wind and solar are essential for affordable electricity in 
Oregon, and he wants the federal government to partner with states to develop 
the energy they need.

   "We're trying to optimize among the resource options we have, and they're 
trying to take things away and raise the costs," he said.