Electricity Prices Are Soaring Under Donald Trump
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Electricity prices across the United States have been climbing in 2025, despite President Donald Trump's repeated pledges to reduce energy costs.
Why It Matters
Ahead of last year's election, Trump said in an opinion piece for Newsweek that his administration would "cut energy and electricity prices in half within 12 months" for both businesses and American families. He has blamed former President Joe Biden's administration for contributing to energy price hikes.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email on Wednesday.
What To Know
According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, the average price of electricity per kilowatt-hour has risen from $0.179 in January to $0.190 as of June—an increase of around 6 percent.
Between January and February, prices remained steady, according to BLS data. But between February and April, prices rose slightly to $0.181, and then marginally again in May to $0.182.
According to the BLS's data, prices then jumped noticeably in June to $0.190.
Analysts previously indicated that a spike in natural-gas prices, surging loads from artificial intelligence-driven data centers triggering multibillion-dollar capacity charges, and an aging, congested grid were among the reasons Americans could see higher energy and electricity prices this summer.
Analysis by Reuters noted that household energy costs have risen at a rate more than twice that of overall consumer price inflation between June 2024 and 2025.
The Financial Times reported that electricity costs in the U.S.'s largest power market are set to hit a record high, driven by surging demand for AI data centers and delays in new power plant construction.
Grid operator PJM reported a 22 percent increase in procurement costs to $329.17 per megawatt-day, totaling $16.1 billion for the period from June 2026 to May 2027, representing a 10 percent annual rise, it said. Consumers may see their energy bills increase by one to five percent, depending on how utilities and states pass on the costs, the Financial Times reported.
"Economic growth is driving a massive uptick in electricity demand. Existing supply has been leaving the system due primarily to state and federal decarbonization policies and some economics," a spokesperson for PJM told Newsweek.
"As to new supply, PJM has studied and approved 46,000 MW (enough to power about 40 million homes) that have been slow to construct due to reasons outside of PJM's control, including global supply chain, state/federal permitting and financing challenges.
"As of June 2025, there are approximately 63,000 MW in projects that will be studied and approved over the next 18 months that we hope will actually construct. In any market, when demand is up and supply is down, there will be an increase in pricing. PJM has been warning of this eventuality for several years now, specifically as it relates to the impact of these supply/demand fundamentals on our ability to reliably operate the power grid."
Electricity transmission equipment at the Hoover Dam in Boulder City, Nevada, as seen on July 19, 2021.
Electricity transmission equipment at the Hoover Dam in Boulder City, Nevada, as seen on July 19, 2021.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump, in a Newsweek opinion piece published October 1, 2024: "We will cut energy and electricity prices in half within 12 months—not just for businesses but for all Americans and their families, and we will quickly double our electricity capacity, which we need to do to compete with China and other countries on Artificial Intelligence. With the lowest energy prices on earth, we will attract energy-hungry industries from all over the planet and millions of blue-collar jobs."
What Happens Next
January 2026 will mark the first anniversary of Trump's second term as president. Whether energy and electricity prices fall dramatically by then remains to be seen.
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