Analysis Shows Electric Bills Have Spiked 13% in Trump’s First Year—And His Own Policies Are to Blame

Americans across the country are struggling to pay higher utility bills, and one clean energy advocacy group is pointing the finger squarely at President Donald Trump.

Climate Power last week released a new report that cited data from the US Energy Information Administration showing that Americans' electricity bills have risen by 13% since Trump took office in January, even though he pledged during the 2024 presidential campaign that he would "cut the price of energy and electricity in half" in his first year.

In reality, Climate Power says, the Trump administration's war on renewable energy projects has helped drive the cost of electricity up by blocking new sources of energy for the US electric grid.

"Trump and Republicans are accelerating their self-inflicted energy crisis with continued project cancellations," argues the report, blaming the administration's policies for hurting "projects that would have produced enough electricity to power the equivalent of 13 million homes."

In total, Climate Power estimates that "companies have canceled, delayed, lost grant funding, or laid off staff" at more than 320 clean energy projects during Trump's second term, resulting in the loss or delay of more than 165,000 new US jobs.

Texas, which has seen 26 clean energy projects negatively impacted this year, has been the biggest loser from Trump's war against renewables, according to the report.

The report also finds that "54% of canceled projects, 40% of delayed projects, and 44.9% of grant cancellations are located in congressional districts represented by Republicans," which means that the GOP is hurting its own constituents with its energy policies.

The cancellation of clean energy products also comes at a time when artificial intelligence data centers are devouring energy, thus putting more upward pressure on electricity prices.

David Spence, a professor of energy law and regulation at the University of Texas, told ABC News on Monday that demand for power is now exceeding supply "by a lot," and he cited factors including data centers, cryptocurrency mining, and electric cars as key factors.

"We're just not able to bring new supply on as quickly as demand is growing, and that's driving prices up," Spence explained.

The Climate Power report builds on findings released by Democratic US senators in October estimating that US electric bills had gone up by 11% since Trump's return to office.

Like Climate Power, the Democratic senators cited Trump's attacks on clean energy as a key factor driving up costs.

"Your administration has no explanations for its failures and no answers for American families that are hit hard by high energy costs, and it continues to actively pursue policies to make this cost crisis worse," wrote Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at the time.