Millions of Americans face higher utility bills after rate hike approvals

Tens of millions of Americans are facing higher inferior bills aft regulators approved dozens of complaint hikes past year. 

Regulators green-lit 43 complaint hikes crossed the state successful 2025, totaling $11.6 cardinal successful increases, according to an investigation by Powerlines. The nonprofit, which is focused connected lowering inferior costs, said the immense bulk of hikes person already gone into effect, portion 8 are slated to spell unrecorded successful the coming months. 

All told, 56 cardinal Americans volition spot higher inferior bills, according to Powerlines, adding caller fiscal unit connected consumers astatine a clip erstwhile vigor costs are already a major headache. Utilities are hiking their rates to wage for repairing and replacing ailing infrastructure, costs linked to utmost upwind events, volatile substance prices and the summation successful energy demand, driven mostly by information centers.

Consumers sorb the outgo of complaint hikes, arsenic good arsenic utilities' operational and superior infrastructure costs, successful their monthly inferior bills, according to Powerlines.

"We're calling this the caller authorities of electricity, wherever energy is the caller eggs," said Charles Hua, the enforcement manager of Powerlines, during a media briefing past Wednesday, referring to the soaring terms of eggs successful 2024 and 2025 that became a focal constituent of user vexation implicit market costs.

Where are rates rising?

While the interaction of the complaint hikes is scattered crossed each corners of the country, the South is bearing the brunt, information from Powerlines shows. Utilities successful the portion requested 13 complaint hikes, with regulators approving increases totaling $8.4 billion.

That includes a highly contested rate hike by the inferior institution Florida Power & Light, which volition unit Floridians to wage billions of further dollars successful inferior costs successful the coming years. The conflict implicit the complaint hike petition was intimately watched fixed the sheer standard of the astir $10 cardinal proposal.

Powerlines tabulated a full of 83 complaint requests successful 2025, 38 of which are inactive pending and 2 of which were rejected. If the pending requests are approved, much than 80 cardinal Americans could beryllium facing higher inferior bills, the investigation found.

Sky-high costs

The caller circular of complaint hikes comes astatine a clip erstwhile Americans are already feeling weighed down by soaring vigor costs. Around 1 successful 3 Americans said they had to forgo a basal disbursal successful 2024 to spend their vigor bills, according to a LendingTree investigation of U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data.

As of July 2025, Americans paid astir $250 a period connected mean for their utilities, information released past twelvemonth from The Century Foundation, a progressive deliberation tank, and advocacy radical Protect Borrowers shows.

The crushed for a complaint hike volition apt beryllium connected wherever you live, Hua said.

"In California, wildfires person been by acold the biggest driver," Hua said past week. "In Georgia, things similar utmost upwind events, oregon the Vogtle atomic plant, person been the biggest operator of the inferior measure increases that radical yet person felt."

Power-hungry information centers are different culprit, though however overmuch these facilities volition interaction a fixed customer's inferior measure is nuanced, according to Hua.

"It differs a batch based connected the geography, energy marketplace structure, arsenic good arsenic the authorities inferior regulatory paradigm, and what actions the [public inferior commission] is oregon isn't taking successful that jurisdiction," helium said.

To assuage user concerns, the White House and Congress have called connected large tech companies to ft the measure connected caller artificial quality plants, with some, similar Meta and Google, already offering commitments to sorb the costs.

State of earthy state and energy prices 

Higher inferior bills whitethorn proceed to beryllium a symptom constituent for Americans, particularly arsenic energy prices are expected to proceed to rise.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts residential energy prices volition emergence astir 4% successful 2026. Because energy rates alteration by state, prices alteration depending connected wherever you live. 

Americans spent $1,833 connected mean connected their energy bills successful 2024, according to Powerlines. The nonprofit said wholesale energy prices person surged successful caller years owed to rising request from electrification, manufacturing and information centers.

Residential earthy state prices are expected to dip successful the coming years, an EIA projection shows, perchance offering immoderate relief. 

While the terms of earthy state wide is expected to autumn successful the adjacent respective years, it volition apt stay volatile, experts told CBS News. Take the recent wintertime tempest blitz, erstwhile planetary earthy state prices roseate owed to a surge successful demand. Natural state futures settled astatine astir $7 per MMBtu (British thermal unit) connected Jan. 27, the highest level since December 2022. 

"Heating request was importantly higher, and energy request accrued significantly, which accrued earthy gas-fired procreation to a precise precocious level for this clip of year," Matthew Palmer, enforcement manager and caput of Americas state probe astatine S&P Global Energy, told CBS News successful an email.

Weather events tin propulsion up earthy state demand, but they aren't apt to interaction inferior bills successful the adjacent term, experts said.

"Short-term spikes are improbable to interaction individuals' inferior bills since overmuch of what they devour is hedged retired months up of clip by utilities," Eric McGuire, manager of probe astatine Wood Mackenzie, an vigor probe company, told CBS News. "That being said, if prices stay precocious oregon we spot continued volatility, it could interaction the prices they wage successful the future."

Edited by Aimee Picchi

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• Utility Bills