Ahead of last year’s election, Trump said in an opinion piece for Newsweek that his administration would “cut energy and electricity prices in half within 12 months” for both businesses and American families. He has blamed former President Joe Biden‘s administration for contributing to energy price hikes.
Analysis by Reuters noted that household energy costs have risen at a rate more than twice that of overall consumer price inflation between June 2024 and 2025.
The Financial Times reported that electricity costs in the U.S.’s largest power market are set to hit a record high, driven by surging demand for AI data centers and delays in new power plant construction.
Less food, no AC: Houston families make tough choices as energy bills climb, study says
President Donald Trump’s policies risk increasing energy costs while cutting federal assistance programs, advocates say.
Low- to moderate-income residents in the Greater Houston area struggle to pay their energy bills more than residents in other parts of Texas — and the government’s safety net to help them is fraying, a nonprofit research groupfound in a new analysis.
Statewide, 72% of the thousands of low- to moderate-income residents who responded to the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute survey said they reduced general household spending to pay their electricity bill each month.
But in the Gulf Coast region, which includes the Greater Houston area, the margin was higher: Nearly 80% of low- to moderate-income residents who responded to the survey reported cutting back on “basic household needs” to afford electricity.
Indeed, a third of Gulf Coast residents surveyed by TEPRI said they cut back spending on food to afford electricity.
