PowerLines Analysis: In Q3 alone, $5.1 billion in requested or approved electric and gas rate increases would impact 34 million customers nationwide

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, PowerLines published  “Utility Bills are Rising: Q3 2025 Update,” following reports issued by PowerLines in the first and second quarters of 2025: “Utility Bills are Rising” (April 2025) and  “Skyrocketing Utility Bills Amidst Scorching Summer Heat” (July 2025).

Analysis by PowerLines shows utility rate increase requests and approvals total more than $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, more than double the $16 billion in requests and approvals over the same period in 2024.

This figure includes $5.1 billion in requested or approved rate increases in the third quarter of 2025 alone, on top of $29 billion in rate increases logged in the first six months of this year. 

Utility rate increase requests and approvals in Q3 2025 will affect the utility bills of nearly 34 million gas and electric customer accounts. Cumulatively in 2025, these increases will be reflected in higher monthly expenses for 124 million utility billpayers.  

Electricity and gas price increases are not only outpacing inflation. According to Consumer Price Index data, they are the top drivers of inflation, even surpassing increases in other expenses such as groceries, gasoline, vehicles, and medicine.

“Americans who are already struggling to make ends meet will see significantly higher utility bills as we head into the colder months of the year,” said Charles Hua, Founder and Executive Director of PowerLines. “In a moment where pocketbook issues continue to burden American consumers, it is imperative that state public utilities commissions further scrutinize utility rate increase requests and consumers make their voices heard.”

Polling conducted by Ipsos for PowerLines found that 3 in 4 Americans are concerned about utility bills rising this year, and that 4 in 5 Americans feel powerless over these costs. There are remedies, however, and they begin with identifying the state agency responsible for approving the rate increase requests, how these agencies make decisions and how customers can make their voices heard.

To understand how skyrocketing bills affect people in their daily lives, PowerLines is collecting stories from individual consumers across the country. In this report, readers will hear from a few of these utility consumers.

Rising utility bills, historically a local issue, has now become a national issue. These costs are straining family budgets and contributing to American consumers’ broader economic concerns.

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.