Skyrocketing Utility Bills Amidst Scorching Summer Heat
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, PowerLines published a second quarter update to build off of PowerLines’ April 2025 report “Utility Bills are Rising” which documented utility rate increases in Q1 2025.
The newly released report titled “Utility Bills Are Rising” Q2 2025 Update: Skyrocketing Utility Bills Amidst Scorching Summer Heat includes analysis that shows in Q2 2025, utilities requested or received approval for over $9 billion in rate increases, including approximately $7.3 billion in new requests and $1.7 billion in approved rate increases. This brings total requested and approved rate increases for the first half of 2025 to approximately $29 billion.
These rate increases are not only significant in absolute terms; they also far surpass 2024 figures. In Q2 2024, requested and approved utility rate increases totaled approximately $5 billion, meaning Q2 2025 saw a near-doubling of requested and approved rate increases compared to the same period last year.
“Americans are experiencing an unprecedented utility affordability crisis. As high temperatures during the summer months put additional strain on the electric grid in many parts of the country, electricity system costs and utility bills will continue to spike,” said Charles Hua, Founder and Executive Director of PowerLines. “We must urgently address this challenge of rising utility bills.”
Utilities are requesting rate increases for a variety of reasons that vary in particular by geography, market structure, resilience needs, growth in electricity demand, among other factors. Of particular importance are distribution and transmission spending increases, in addition to extreme weather events, which are significant drivers of rising electricity prices.
Regardless of the rationale behind the proposals, consumers are concerned about these utility rate increases. It is imperative that the perspectives of these consumers are central to decision making going forward.
PowerLines’ Ipsos polling conducted March 2025 found that 3 in 4 Americans are concerned about utility bills rising in 2025, with 4 in 5 feeling powerless over these costs and 2 in 3 indicating that these rising utility bills were a source of financial stress. These findings demonstrate a consistent throughline: American energy consumers are concerned about rising utility bills.
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.