Average energy bill could rise $400 as Trump budget axes electricity subsidies

The Independent reports U.S. electric bills may be rising faster than ever under a slate of new White House policies.

Four Republican Senators warned in an April letter that rising demand for energy is making it “imperative that any modifications to the tax code avoid worsening the economic pressures that American households and businesses already face.”

Their message, which was an appeal to President Donald Trump to maintain Biden-era energy credits, argued that the repeal of energy credits “that provide a direct passthrough benefit to ratepayers, would translate into immediate utility bill increases, placing additional strain on hardworking Americans.”

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The Energy Information Administration found that since 2022, U.S. residential electricity prices “have increased by 13 percent on average,” reports The Independent. Even in midwestern states like Ohio, electricity prices are on the rise as companies like Vantage and Tesla build power-hungry data centers dedicated to support AI. The Independent reported that power bills may go up by as much as $400 over an average year.

Another factor behind price hikes are unstable natural gas prices, which rose sharply following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It does not help that U.S. drilling companies are selling more gas overseas to customers willing to pay top dollar against the dropping U.S. dollar. The Trump administration just recently authorized a major U.S. liquified gas supplier to export even more fuel abroad.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, an oil executive and a Trump appointee, praised the approval of that permit as “clearing a major hurdle.”

“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are cutting the red tape around projects like CP2, unleashing our energy potential and ensuring [the] U.S. can continue to meet growing energy demand for decades to come,” Wright said.

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As of 2020, The Independent reports 34 million U.S. households claimed they struggle to pay their energy bills and kept their homes at unsafe temperatures because of worries about costs.

Despite this, the Trump administration’s budget, which is currently being debated in the Senate this week, terminates the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program that helps 6.2 million people pay for high energy bills.

Mark Wolfe, the executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, told The Times the U.S. has “millions of families that are already struggling to pay their bills.”

“Now you bring in extreme temperatures, record heat, and it’s a very bad situation,” he said.

Read the full report at The Independent here.