Electricity prices for residential customers rose faster than inflation between 2019 and 2023, according to a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
That rise wasn’t linked to increased demand, at least on a national level, researchers said. Instead, retail electricity got more expensive as utilities spent more on building out and maintaining local distribution grids.
The report comes as utilities across the country are seeing a surge of new requests from data centers seeking power — a trend that is expected to significantly affect electricity markets in the coming years. The associated uptick in energy demand could complicate efforts to decrease the electric power sector’s reliance on coal and natural gas and shift toward renewables and battery storage.
At the same time, President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to reduce electricity prices — along with other energy costs — during his first 18 months in office. But Trump, who seized on the burden of rising consumer costs during his campaign, will have little power to influence that area of the economy, experts say.
