A new report suggests that energy bills are up by more than 10% since Donald Trump took office with his “energy dominance” agenda.
What’s happening?
Climate Power, a climate advocacy organization, used data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration to uncover that Americans experienced a 13% increase in electricity costs in 2025, as ABC News reported. For full disclosure, Climate Power’s national advisory board includes well-known Democratic activists and political figures.
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill drew a sharp rebuke from the report’s authors, who wrote it is “driving up utility costs and destroying jobs by removing cheaper, cleaner energy sources from the grid, all while funding new tax breaks for the oil and gas industries.”
“What’s happening behind the scenes is the Trump administration is doing everything it can to squash clean energy,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said. “Clean energy is almost always low-cost.”
The projects halted or put on hold since Trump’s election are preventing enough power to electrify 13 million homes, per the report. Meanwhile, demand is rising for electricity, with data centers guzzling an increasingly large proportion of energy.
Why are surging electricity prices important?
Financial strain from high energy costs can limit access to essential resources for individuals and families, driving them into debt. Protect Borrowers revealed that nearly 1 million Texas households are in utility debt, per ABC News.
The report also asserted conditions are getting worse, not better. Data center growth is picking up, and extreme heat is putting increased pressure on the grid.
David Spence, a professor of energy law and regulation at the University of Texas, echoed the report’s concerns to ABC News and listed the growth of bitcoin mining and electric vehicles as other factors.
“We’re just not able to bring new supply on as quickly as demand is growing, and that’s driving prices up,” Spence said.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, isn’t backing down from its stance on clean energy and is pointing fingers elsewhere for rising costs.
“Joe Biden’s green energy policies sent electricity prices soaring more than 30% over four years, and blue states that refuse to adopt President Trump’s energy-dominance agenda continue to have sky-high energy prices,” a spokesperson told ABC News while defending Trump’s energy policies.
What’s being done about rising electricity costs?
It’s pretty clear from those comments that Trump is staying the course on his energy stances, which exclude many forms of clean energy. That is, notwithstanding some legal setbacks, like a judge’s rejection of his executive order banning new wind projects.
Trump is looking to accomplish lower energy prices instead through moves like expanding oil drilling in the Arctic. His administration has also expressed support for nuclear, hydropower, and biofuels as part of a proposed energy mix.
Consumers can take matters into their own hands by putting up their own solar panels and pairing them with batteries to achieve a measure of energy independence. They can also cut down on energy usage with efficient household technology and money-saving moves.
Meanwhile, politicians and clean energy advocates can continue to fight for green products that increase energy generation and create jobs.
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