‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ Isn’t Stopping Your Electricity Bill From Rising

‘Drill, Baby, Drill’

Inflation in the U.S. is still high, and many people are watching to see how President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs will affect prices. But one thing already worrying households is rising electricity bills. Trump’s new budget cuts federal support for clean energy and instead pushes oil and gas production.

The full effect of this change won’t be felt right away because current federal credits for solar and wind projects are still being phased out. Still, the long-term impact could be big. This year, home electricity costs have jumped about 10%, much higher than overall inflation, while average electricity prices are up 5.5% compared to last July. The main reason: demand is growing faster than power companies can build new plants. Data centers for artificial intelligence are a major driver of this new demand.

Trump promised during his campaign to cut electricity prices in half by boosting coal, oil, and gas production. Since returning to office, his team has been working toward that. But more drilling doesn’t quickly translate into more electricity or lower prices.

Natural gas is abundant, but new gas plants take years to build because of supply backlogs. Coal is also available, but it’s both more expensive and less popular due to high carbon emissions.

Wind and solar can be built faster, especially with battery storage, but Trump’s tariffs on imported turbines, panels, and batteries—mostly from China—make them more costly. New rules from the Interior Department also make it harder and more expensive to build wind farms on federal land. On top of that, the U.S. is investigating imported wind turbines as a “national security risk,” which could mean even higher tariffs. The Agriculture Department is also ending support for farmers who want to install wind or solar systems, while the Energy Department recently stopped work on a nearly finished offshore wind farm in Rhode Island, leaving its 65 turbines in limbo.

Last week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former fracking executive, blamed past clean energy policies under Biden and Obama for high power prices. But he admitted one thing: “We’re going to get blamed because we’re in office.”

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