Across the country, soaring electricity costs are burdening consumers and stirring voter anger. The rapid build-out of artificial intelligence data centers, along with tariffs and upgrades to an aging grid, has raised power prices at rates unseen in decades. The war in Iran is throwing global energy markets into upheaval, adding a surge in gasoline prices to affordability concerns.
In the US, where narrow margins in a few swing districts can tip the balance of power in Washington, even modest changes in voter sentiment can have a profound effect.
And political party control; can and likely will affect US economy.
I think our electric rate has gone up around 10% over the past 8 years. Currently paying in the neighborhood of 10 cents/kWh. The TVA produces electricity from a little bit of everything: nuclear the most followed closely by nat gas. Coal has steadily fallen over the past 15 years. Hydro is fourth. “Renewables” for all practical purposes is non-existent. Surprised that hydro doesn’t play a bigger part given the terrain/rivers.
Or public equity. IIRC, a majority of customers in the US are served by publicly-owned companies.
This may hurt people in New York State.
Clean energy projects in NY on hold as battle over costs escalates
Nearly two dozen of New York’s clean energy projects may be scrapped because they are financially impractical, a possible outcome that would exacerbate the state’s struggling efforts to meet increasing power demands while also ensuring the electric grid becomes less dependent on fossil fuels.
The stalled wind and solar projects would power roughly 2 million homes, but the developers want to renegotiate state contracts to reflect tariffs and rising labor costs not factored in when their deals were struck between 2023 and early 2025. Without more revenue, the projects won’t be economically viable and will need to be canceled, according to a trade organization representing them.
Publicly-owned as in “investor owned”. Yes, most are.
Our public-utility in Clark County, WA is owned by the county. We actually get a dividend (in the form of a credit on the monthly utility bill) if they perform under budget for the year. On the other had, if we have a big ice storm that tears down a lot of wires and poles, we get a rate increase to refill the reserve account. Everything is done “at cost”, without profit and overhead being spirited away, out of the county.
Which are, almost without exception, regulated by local or regional government, which came about because of the tendency of these “natural” monopolies to abuse their status, provide poor service to some while cream skimming others.
Most of this happened near the dawn of the electrical age in the early 1900’s, but the electrical trusts were not broken up until the New Deal era.
This puts at least some modicum of control over the inclination of owners to maximize profit while there is no/little competition.
Hydro is a renewable. The reason that other renewables such as wind and solar have not been incorporated is due to small mindedness people running TVA and the Trump Administrration.
A roughly 30% increase in my electricity rate in 2025 was a key driver of my putting solar panels on my roof. At the time of making the decision, the panels looked like they would deliver a 6% ROI over 30 years, assuming that I qualified for the then-available federal subsidy and that rates increased by roughly 3% annualized from that point on.
Earlier this month (April 2026), I got notified that my electric rate was going up by just over 9%. Although I appreciate the improved ROI on the solar panels that will drive, I am also aware that rising energy prices often trickle through to rising costs elsewhere. As a result, this is a case where I would have rather seen my investment under-perform my expectations due to slower cost escalations…
That said, I will still greatly appreciate an electric bill near $0 in the hot summer months, vs. the more than $500 from last summer (or roughly $550 at this year’s rates).
