Electricity prices are climbing more than twice faster than inflation: NPR

Ken Thomas woke up last Wednesday to find that the power had left him at Boca Raton. An SMS of its public service said that equipment failed at 2 am when a repair team arose eight hours later, the hot summer and sticky of Florida has already wreaked havoc.

“You just don’t realize how important your power is as long as you don’t,” said Thomas, a retired air traffic controller. “In the heat of Florida, you cannot live without air conditioning. And this period of the year in particular.”

Thomas has invested in economical windows and insulation to keep his house comfortable. But in the summer of summer, his electricity bills still exceed $ 400 per month.

“It’s painful to see this bill when it comes,” he says.

An electricity prices have jumped more than twice as quickly than the overall cost of life in the past year. This is particularly painful during summer dog days, when air conditioners have overtime.

In Pembroke Pines, Florida, Al Salvi’s electricity bill can reach $ 500 per month.

“There are many seniors here which are living checks to check. They can barely afford orders like me,” explains Salvi, who is 63 years old and uses a wheelchair. “Now we have to decide if we will pay the electricity bill or we are going to buy medication. And it’s not just for us. You will tighten between a rock and a hard place.”

Earlier this year, the public service which serves Thomas and Salvi, Florida Power & Light, asked for an increase in rates that would have increased invoices for a typical resident in southern Florida by around 13% in the next four years.

The AARP launched a petition reader to oppose the increase in rates and quickly gathered tens of thousands of signatures.

“Our members are quite upset,” said Zayne Smith, Director of Defense of AARP Florida. “It’s just another way people become nickel and decrease to be able to afford to live here in Florida.”

Last week, Florida Power & Light announced a provisional agreement on prices with commercial and industrial customers. CEO Armando Pimentel said that the agreement would guarantee: “We can continue to provide reliable electricity to supply our rapidly growing condition while keeping invoices for low customers.”

The details of the new rate proposal were not made public.

It is not only Florida that fights with high prices power. Electricity prices increased quickly across the country – thanks to a combination of factors related to demand and supply.

AI Centers of power AI for power are a factor that stimulates high prices

The swallowed data centers have appeared everywhere to serve the boom of artificial intelligence. The energy department projects data centers and other commercial customers will use more electricity than households for the first time next year. This is a challenge for political decision -makers, who must decide how to respond to this additional request and which should pay the bill.

“Regulators still play a catch -up,” said John Quigley, principal researcher at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “The growth of data centers far exceeds the response of grid managers, commissions of public services across the country, and they run to catch up.”

Natural gas exports also increase prices

The arrow price of natural gas also increases the prices of electricity. Over 40% of electricity is produced using natural gas. While more gas is exported as liquid natural gas, competition from foreign customers raises prices for price services must pay here at home.

The energy department claims that the cost of gas used to generate energy jumped more than 40% in the first half of this year compared to 2024. Another increase of 17% is expected next year.

“Anyway, you look at it, gas energy is expensive,” says Quigley. “It will be more and more expensive as natural gas exports are increasing. The future is to make electricity cheaper and how to do so is clean energy.”

One in six households already find it difficult to pay the power

Solar and wind energy can be cheaper than gas factories, even without government subsidies. But building new power supplies and the wires to transport it will cost money. And one in six households already finds it difficult to pay their current electricity bills.

“We are not wondering if the network should be rebuilt,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Association Association, who pleads for low -income energy customers. “We do not wonder if there must be new data centers built. But the problem is that, for low -income families and people living in poverty, they do not have the opportunity to pay more than they currently pay, without becoming even more delay and find themselves in situations.”

The federal government is currently spending around $ 4 billion a year to help families with low income with energy bills. But Wolfe says that it is not enough to cover the increase in cooling costs in summer. And the budget proposed by President Trump would end the assistance.

In Boca Raton, Ken Thomas was grateful to restore his power this week, after ten hours without air conditioning. At the same time, he is preparing for his August electric bill.

“I appreciate my usefulness which I have to stay cool in summer and hot in winter,” he says. “But I also know that there is a limit to what we can afford to pay.”