President Donald Trump announced a “Rate Payer Protection Pledge” for hyperscalers during his State of the Union address, and utility CEOs repeated “affordability” ad nauseam during their February earnings calls—mostly while implementing new rate hikes.
Electric and piped natural gas bills became the two largest drivers of inflation last year—rising 7% and 11%, respectively, in 2025—and they’re projected to keep increasing this year and beyond. Utilities requested a record-high $31 billion in rate hikes in 2025 across the nation—more than twice that of 2024—and many of them aren’t implemented yet.
Utility expenses are expected to play a huge role in the midterm elections in November, and it has quickly become a bipartisan concern, capturing the attention of Trump and governors across the country.
But who and what are to blame? And how can these problems be solved—or at least lessened?
Read more: https://fortune.com/2026/03/01/utility-bills-keep-rising-everyone-blame-ai-data-centers-included/
Source: fortune