Household electricity bills costs have gone up by 13% in the last year

PHOTOS

WASHINGTON - Today U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, hosted a roundtable with U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.); U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.); U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.); U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.); Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor under the Clinton administration; and experts on clean energy and utility services, discussing how the Trump administration's policies have driven up energy prices for working families.

VIDEO: U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, host roundtable on skyrocketing energy costs, March 17, 2026.

"The story is simple: Trump promised to end wars and lower energy prices. He's done the precise opposite," said Heinrich. "He waged a war at home against American-made clean energy. And then he started a war in the Middle East without a plan, heavily affecting our energy supply. And it is families that are bearing the brunt in an economy that already makes it hard to put food on the table. Folks, this is not an affordability hoax, as the president likes to calls it. It is a very real energy affordability crisis."

"Utility bills are soaring across the country because the Trump administration is throttling cheap, clean energy and forcing grids to call up expensive fossil units - all to line the pockets of the planet's biggest polluters. It's a corruption scheme," said Whitehouse. "When ratepayers pay more month after month, they deserve to know that Trump's clean energy sabotage is the cause."

"On the campaign trail, Trump promised to cut energy bills in half. In reality, Trump is more likely to double Americans' energy costs by the end of his presidency," said Leader Schumer. "Simply put, Trump's policies-his war of choice in Iran, his corrupt giveaways to Big Oil, and his assault on clean energy-have sent energy prices soaring. And instead of helping American families lower their energy bills, Trump is running a pay-to-play scheme to help his billionaire buddies in the fossil fuel industry. Working American families are paying the price for Trump's broken promises."

"The rapid growth of data centers is driving up electricity costs for all of us and pushing our grid to the breaking point. Not only has the Trump administration failed to meaningfully address this urgent and growing problem, they have made it worse by sabotaging clean energy projects that we need to meet rising electricity demand across the country - and Americans are taking the hit in their pocketbooks. We need a total course correction from the Trump administration status quo - which means passing my Power for the People Act to ensure data centers, not consumers, cover the costs of the power they need while harnessing the full potential of clean energy to bring down electricity prices across the board," said Van Hollen.

"Data centers pose a potential threat to electricity prices," said Blumenthal. "We are now threatened-our electricity prices-by the potential for data centers swallowing huge amounts of electricity. My legislation would force Big Tech companies to bear their fair share of the financial burden of generating the electricity necessary for those data centers."

"Trump is doing everything he can to increase Americans' energy costs - blocking affordable and ready-to-go wind and solar energy projects, attacking programs that would lower electricity prices, and starting illegal wars that send prices sky-high. While Trump and the Republicans create the problems, we have the solutions - including my new bill to end Trump's abuse of energy emergency authorities that force families to pay for his pricy coal plant fantasies," said Markey.

"Today's roundtable on energy costs underscores the reality that President Trump's policies are driving energy costs up, not down," said Blunt Rochester. "Rather than supporting science-backed solutions that lower costs, like clean energy, the Trump administration has moved to dismantle them. Americans deserve leaders committed to their best interest, not those bending to the will of Big Oil."

"Even before the war in Iran, energy prices were going up, but the war in Iran has had a direct and obvious effect on oil prices," said Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor under the Clinton administration. "Of all times for an administration to reduce the access to cheaper clean energy, this is absolutely the worst time, not only because of war, but also because of climate change that we are all experiencing."

"When Secretary Wright issues a 202 C order forcing a coal plant to remain operational, he is forcing that plant owner to spend tens of millions of dollars on a facility that no longer provides economic value," said Greg Wannier, Sierra Club Senior Attorney. "And his solution to that problem is to tell those owners to recover their losses from ratepayers. That means American households already strained by high energy prices are being asked to foot the bill for these orders."

"Despite Congress's plain language and House Resolution One to rescind only unobligated funds, the Trump administration issued termination notices for all Solar For All grants, including fully obligated funds in August of 2025," said Catherine Zingg, Tribal Energy Alternatives Policy Director. "This meant over a $500 million loss for Indian country and across Alaska Native communities. In total, participating households were projected to save more than $94 million in electricity costs over time, or roughly $1,300 per household per year. Across the country, families are searching for practical ways to lower energy costs, and it's in distributed energy programs like solar for all that can play an important role in achieving that goal, particularly in tribal communities that have faced historical barriers in accessing affordable energy."

"Offshore wind promises to save hundreds of millions of dollars in energy costs for rate payers every year," said Anna Poplavska, Arcadia Center Senior Policy Advocate. "Imagine you're a marathon runner and just one mile from the finish line, you're suddenly taken out of the race without any explanation. That's exactly the best way to think about what's happening with offshore wind right now, where policies are disrupting the progress of resources we know can reliably provide power quickly and cost-effectively."

Heinrich's work to lower energy costs for families in New Mexico and across the country:

As Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Heinrich has been leading his colleagues in Congress in spotlighting how this administration's policies are raising costs on consumers.

In December, Heinrich released a fact sheet to inform Americans how President Trump's actions are gutting the energy sector and hiking up costs for families across the country. At a time when high energy demand is causing rising prices, Heinrich has repeatedly called for the Trump administration to stop stalling projects that could increase energy supply and lower prices.

Last October, Heinrich delivered remarks on the Senate floor, blasting President Trump for waging a war on American-made energy - causing energy costs to skyrocket and killing good-paying jobs. He urged his Republican colleagues to take action to resolve the affordability crisis facing New Mexico families.

Last August, Heinrich hosted a roundtable discussion on how many jobs the Trump administration will kill and how much they will raise New Mexicans' utility bills as a result of their Big, Bad Bill.

Last July, Heinrich grilled Trump's Department of Energy (DOE) nominee Audrey Robertson on energizing our grid with renewables to keep costs low for families, and her record of managing oil spills in New Mexico as the co-founder and an executive of Franklin Mountain Energy. Heinrich also questioned energy company executives on Trump administration actions that are impacting grid reliability and driving up families' energy costs.

Heinrich also pressed several pending Trump administration nominees on the president's Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget request and his Big, Bad Bill, which raises costs on American families by gutting investments in energy efficiency and clean energy programs.

Last May, Heinrich urged Trump administration to immediately reverse course on its plan to illegally and unilaterally terminate the ENERGY STAR program. In the letter, Heinrich highlighted the cost-saving benefits of the program, which would save the average American household $450 on utility bills each year simply by choosing ENERGY STAR certified products.

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