Electricity prices are rising — and President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are to blame. At a time when artificial intelligence, electrification of the economy, and increased domestic manufacturing are driving unprecedented growth in electricity demand, every move they make appears purposely designed to raise costs and block the production of the energy the nation desperately needs.
Immediately after taking office, Trump unleashed a comprehensive, whole-of-government attack on abundant, affordable, and reliable renewable energy resources. In a play ripped straight from the pages of Project 2025, the administration quickly began using the immense machinery of government to obstruct the deployment of cheap, cost-effective resources like solar energy, wind power, and battery storage technologies. The result is a mind-boggling 16% increase in electricity prices for hardworking American families and businesses since Jan. 20, 2025. Clearly, calls for a commonsense approach to energy policy fell on deaf ears.
In fear of invoking the president’s wrath, a hapless Republican Congress passed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a title the White House is desperately trying to distance itself from by rebranding the bill. The legislation eviscerates incentives to build next-generation energy technologies, cuts consumer-facing tax credits intended to lower residential electricity costs, and slashes price relief tools for low-income people. As studies consistently show, the legislation will eliminate hundreds of thousands of high-quality job opportunities and increase annual household electricity bills by more than $600 over the next several years.
Trump’s Energy Department is also doing its best to inflict price pain on the public. Last fall, the agency canceled more than $7.5 billion in funding to energy projects in red and blue states alike — with nearly $24 billion in total reportedly facing the axe. Hundreds of projects that would have decreased energy costs have gone or will go by the wayside.
Among the grants cut is one to a California children’s hospital that would have helped keep critical medical equipment running when the grid is strained and electricity prices are high. Now, the hospital will need to pull more power than expected from the grid, raising costs for the surrounding community and spiking medical bills even higher. In Minnesota, two projects to upgrade decades-old transmission lines to improve efficiency and lower costs initially canceled by the administration are only moving forward because of intense local pushback. And in Appalachia, the administration has stalled funding for a major hydrogen energy hub that had been earmarked for termination last October. The project was designed to drive down the costs of producing a low-emissions fuel and expand economic opportunities for the communities hit hardest by the energy transition. Instead, the administration left the region waiting while energy prices continued to climb.
The Energy Department is also ordering utilities to keep aging, costly coal plants online long after they were scheduled to retire, stunning local residents and forcing them to subsidize uneconomic sources of generation at a cost of millions of dollars a day. While Energy Secretary Chris Wright baselessly blames clean energy sources for price increases, he is saddling the public with higher energy bills at a time when affordability is allegedly top of mind for the administration. The hypocrisy would be astonishing if it were not so costly.
Not to be outdone, the Environmental Protection Agency moved to rescind billions in carefully awarded grants. One such grant, the Solar for All program, would have saved $8 billion in energy costs for 900,000 low-income and disadvantaged households nationwide. Now, many of those same households — as well as other ratepayers in communities across the nation — will be forced to choose between paying rent, buying groceries, or keeping the lights on.
Meanwhile, the Department of Interior is canceling nearly complete wind projects across the East Coast and creating labyrinthine permitting obstacles that effectively prevent the deployment of solar power, one of the cheapest forms of electricity. Last September, the agency moved to cancel an offshore wind farm projected to deliver low-cost electricity to more than 700,000 homes. It also canceled one of the world’s largest solar projects, Esmeralda 7. The project would have generated up to 6.2 gigawatts of inexpensive solar energy, which is enough to provide affordable power to roughly 2 million homes. The administration is even paying offshore wind developers billions of dollars not to build wind facilities. At a time when families are begging for lower energy bills, Trump is dedicated to spending taxpayer dollars to keep cheaper power off the grid.
This hostile approach stands in stark contrast to our international allies and adversaries alike, who are investing aggressively in the industries, technologies, and jobs of tomorrow to lower costs for their citizens. While the United States under Trump doubles down on expensive energy resources, China is racing ahead in the race to capture the global energy future, installing more solar energy capacity in the first six months of 2025 than America has done in its entire history. That’s a big reason why China’s average residential electricity costs are less than half of the U.S.’s.
If cost increases on the public don’t force the Trump administration or congressional Republicans to act, perhaps the potential political costs will. After all, rising prices are a political liability, and leaders on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue know it. The Democrats have responded to angst about rising costs with the Cheap Energy Act, which is both a consumer-focused approach to lowering electricity bills and an agenda they hope can propel them to victory in the midterm elections.
TRUMP’S JONES ACT WAIVER FAILED TO DELIVER. IT’S TIME TO END IT
Trump notably ran on the pledge to cut electricity prices by half within 12 months. Now, his administration’s actions are causing them to rise 61% faster than inflation — and voters are noticing. A sharp-tongued pundit from another era famously said, “It’s the economy, stupid,” when describing the most important issue to voters.
This year, it may be even simpler: It’s the electricity bill! With four months left until the midterm elections, Democrats have an opening to make the case plainly and relentlessly: Republicans promised cheaper energy, then delivered the Reckless Republican Rate Hike. And if Republicans want to run from their record, Democrats should make sure voters see it every time they open their utility bill.
Jeremy Paul Ortiz is a former presidential appointee and deputy press secretary at the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Energy, and former aide for Sen. Joe Manchin and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.