If you’ve noticed your monthly power bill increasing, you’re not alone. A recent survey shows that over half of all Americans feel overwhelmed by their utility costs, and a vast majority say their prices have gone up in the last year. That trend is on pace to continue.

Energy costs are largely influenced by fossil fuel price volatility, surges in electricity demand, and the impacts of climate change. When the cost of producing electricity and the cost of grid infrastructure to get electricity to your home rise, your bills rise, too. But there are ways to lower costs, like building more cheap, clean energy to hook up to the grid and electrifying and increasing energy efficiency in your home.

Read more about what’s behind rising energy costs.

Various companies are responsible for managing and operating the electrical grid. The largest such organization, PJM, runs the electric grid across 13 states and serves 65 million Americans from the East Coast to the Midwest. PJM, along with utilities, makes decisions that affect how much people pay for their electricity. 

PJM has a notoriously lagging approval process for new power plants and has been influenced heavily by fossil fuel interests. It’s planning on raising prices for its customers in July 2025, in part because it prioritizes dirty, expensive gas over more affordable clean energy.

Read more about PJM and how to prevent future rate hikes.

One organization, PJM, controls the electric power grid in 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, and its mismanagement of the grid is set to spike electric bills almost 60 percent over the next 10 to 15 years. New modeling offers an alternative path forward: Approving more clean energy projects faster could save customers $505 each year and create 313,000 jobs per year across the region. 

Read more about how hooking up more clean energy to the grid saves customers money.

Download fact sheets for Maryland (PDF), New Jersey (PDF), Ohio (PDF), Pennsylvania (PDF), or Virginia (PDF)

Clean energy tax credits, within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), like the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit, Investment Tax Credit (ITC), and the Production Tax Credit (PTC) subsidize the production of clean energy, like solar, wind, and geothermal, which translates to lower energy costs for families, cleaner air and water, and less climate pollution. 

Buildings credits like the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit and the New Energy Efficient Homes Credit allow homeowners and businesses to upgrade buildings to be more efficient, healthier, and weather-resilient. And programs like the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) help millions of families afford their utility bills.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) lowers energy costs for American households, reduces reliance on fossil fuels, and stabilizes energy prices by investing in clean energy projects and energy efficiency upgrades.

Trump and MAGA Republicans in Congress’ are attempting to eliminate or undermine these efficient, effective programs, threatening these cost savings and hindering a transition to a cleaner and more affordable energy future.

Read more about the impactful clean energy programs the GOP is trying to cut.

Read more about how GGRF is supporting communities and cutting costs.

There’s a concerning trend among utilities of pushing for more so-called “natural” gas infrastructure despite the fact that clean energy is now much cheaper and more reliable. Relying on gas exposes consumers to volatile price swings and locks them into costly, long-term investments, potentially increasing their energy bills. 

Utilities are exaggerating demand to justify gas build-out, effectively making ratepayers foot the bill for their unnecessary and polluting infrastructure. We need a transition to clean energy sources, coupled with transparent regulatory processes, to prevent utilities from prioritizing fossil fuels for profit over commonsense, affordable, and sustainable options.

Read more on how utilities should deprioritize gas and focus on clean energy.

There have been tech booms and busts before. Let’s not let this one revive fossil power and leave states with more pollution and higher energy bills far into the future. Policymakers must balance the hype around AI with sensible laws that protect communities and power customers.

States can address AI and data center demand while still hitting clean energy targets and protecting customers from higher energy bills by:

• Building out more new, truly clean energy sources 
• Creating safeguards so data center costs are not passed onto customers
• Speeding up clean energy deployment
• Requiring data centers to co-locate with renewable energy sources and creating efficiency requirements

Read more on how states can meet energy demand with clean energy. 

Since returning to office, Donald Trump has made a series of damaging, often illegal decisions that are raising energy costs for the average family. From freezing clean energy investments to imposing national tariff taxes and pulling the plug on effective, cost-saving programs, he’s making it more expensive to heat your home, fuel your car, and keep the lights on. 

Read how Trump is driving up energy prices and draining Americans’ wallets 

(This memo outlines the harmful actions he’s taken through March 21.) 

Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China are expected to substantially increase energy costs in the U.S., especially for midwestern states. These tariffs could lead to higher gasoline prices (potentially by 25-50 cents per gallon in the Midwest), disruptions to the electric grid, auto industry job losses, and increased heating bills. 

Read more on how tariffs will impact people, jobs, and costs.