PowerLines has released a new analysis finding utilities filed $9.4 billion in rate increase requests in the first quarter of 2026 that are poised to impact more than 81 million customers across the U.S. 

Utility Bills Are Rising: Q1 2026, includes a comprehensive analysis of utility rate increase requests filed in the first quarter of 2026 alongside new nationwide polling conducted in partnership with Ipsos.

The national poll conducted for PowerLines by the nonpartisan polling company Ipsos using the probability-based online KnowledgePanel®, surveyed 2,045 American adults, including 1,912 electric billpayers, from March 14 to 16, 2026. Key findings from the poll include:

• More than 2 in 3 Americans (68 percent) report their electric or gas bill has increased over the past year, 
• 3 in 4 Americans (77 percent) are worried those costs will continue to climb.
• 80 percent of Americans say they feel helpless  to control how much they are charged for gas or electric services.

In 2025 alone, utilities requested a record $31 billion in rate increases, double that of 2024, while electricity and gas became the fastest drivers of inflation. 

“Utility consumers are feeling the squeeze, and the numbers back them up. Bills keep rising and people feel powerless to stop it,” said Charles Hua, Founder and Executive Director of PowerLines. “Our polling shows that trust in both utilities and government regulators has eroded significantly. Policymakers have a critical opening to act but only if they are willing to demand real accountability and deploy cost-effective solutions that can actually lower bills.”

The PowerLines-Ipsos poll found that concern over rising utility costs cuts across income levels and political affiliations. Even among households earning more than $100,000 annually, 74 percent expressed concern about rising bills. The majority of respondents (61 percent) said their energy bills have added to their financial stress, and 52 percent said changes to their utility bills have impacted their spending habits.

Confidence in oversight is also slipping. Only 29 percent of respondents agreed that their state government does a good job protecting their interests when it comes to regulating local electric or gas utilities—a drop of nearly ten percentage points from last year’s PowerLines-Ipsos poll. Just 17 percent believe their utility company puts consumers’ interests over its own.

“A clear pattern stands out from this research: Americans are uneasy about rising utility costs,” said Mallory Newall, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at Ipsos. “This concern cuts across income levels and political affiliation, underscoring how widespread the issue has become.”

“Power bills have been rising relentlessly for the past five years and are now reaching a crisis stage. There are many reasons, but politicians who ignore this issue are sleeping on a volcano,” said former FERC Chair Mark Christie.

“Increased costs in every part of the family budget have people feeling squeezed, and a lot of households are unable to keep up with rising energy costs. We’re seeing a lot more concerns about utility bills compared with even just a few years ago,” said Annie Levenson-Falk, Executive Director of the Minnesota Citizens Utility Board.

PowerLines is a nonpartisan consumer education nonprofit organization that aims to modernize the utility regulatory system for American energy consumers to lower utility bills and grow the economy.