Affordability is the key buzzword ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, and no cost-of-living concern has risen to the top of the political agenda like rising electricity prices. The Trump administration and Congress are trying to reform the electrical grid to increase the supply of power to meet soaring demand. Yet, the different parties cannot agree on what’s causing the problem, the sources of energy to pursue, or how to overhaul the permitting process to allow more construction. This Washington Examiner series will look at the policy and politics of the grid.
From Alaska to Maine, electricity prices are soaring across the country, up roughly 13% since President Donald Trump took office in January.
With higher electricity bills undermining families’ finances, the Trump administration has repeatedly pointed the finger at the Biden administration for implementing policies aimed at boosting renewable energy sources and phasing out fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, Democrats and clean energy advocates have begun to blame Trump’s crackdown on solar and wind projects as a leading factor behind rising premiums.
The underlying cause of rising electricity prices is not straightforward and is generally attributed to several factors across the energy supply chain. Increasingly, however, both sides agree that the government must focus on increasing the amount of electricity pumped into the grid, whether from clean or non-clean sources.
Soaring demand brought about by artificial intelligence advancements, electrification, and domestic manufacturing appeared to catch the U.S. electricity grid unprepared, as former President Joe Biden prioritized removing fossil fuel resources in recent years.
The Biden administration’s energy approach was centered on tackling climate change and protecting public health from pollution. For instance, the Biden administration imposed stricter regulations on power plant emissions, slowed approvals for drilling, and provided tax credits for clean energy projects and innovation.
Since taking office, Trump has promised to reverse this suppression of fossil fuels. He’s also imposed his own retaliatory crackdown on renewable energy alternatives.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the Washington Examiner last week that, thus far, the administration has prevented the closure of more than 15 gigawatts of energy capacity, in part by keeping aging coal plants online.
Wright said that 100 gigawatts of “reliable, firm” energy capacity was slated for closure when they came into the office.
If all those facilities were to close, he said, electricity prices would continue to rise, and blackouts would become 100 times more common.
“Americans have suffered that, Americans have seen that, President Trump was elected to reverse that,” Wright said. “To date, in our 10 months to 11 months in office, we’ve already stopped the closure of over 15 gigawatts of power production capacity across the country.”
Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Neil Chatterjee said he agreed that the Biden administration’s policies, which accelerate the retirement of old fossil generation, contributed to the grid having a shorter supply of generation, thereby causing regional transmission operators and independent system operators to raise their capacity prices.
“It’s absolutely fair as of today to kind of, you know, point the finger at decisions made during the prior administration that put us in this high-cost environment,” he told the Washington Examiner.
Since 2000, approximately 780 coal power units, individual generators capable of producing energy, have retired, according to The New York Times. Energy nonprofit organization Resources for the Future estimated in 2017 that around 816 natural gas units and 791 petroleum-fired units had retired since 2005.
As the Biden administration encouraged the phase-out of fossil fuels, many states opted to replace that generation with renewable energy, including wind and solar.
However, this transition to cleaner fuels has largely failed to keep pace with the retirement of fossil fuel power plants, leaving utilities and grid operators scrambling to meet growing demand.
Democrats, such as New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, “have applauded how much coal they have taken offline, and they’ve replaced it with nothing,” Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of energy policy non-profit group Power the Future, told the Washington Examiner.
“They replaced it with the promise of wind and solar, and that’s why you see a lot of wind and solar conversation as speculative,” Turner added. “Eliminate what you have and replace it with the promise of a better future [and] you get spiked prices, and that’s exactly where we are.”
There is evidence, however, that renewable energy resources contribute to lower electricity prices for consumers.
In 2024, the climate and energy research firm Energy Innovation Policy and Technology released a report that found Iowa’s share of electricity generation from wind increased from around 15% to nearly 60% between 2010 and 2023. During the same time frame, the state experienced an average residential rate increase of less than 2%, a slower increase than at least 42 other states.
There is widespread agreement among clean energy advocates and fossil fuel proponents that increasing electricity generation on the grid will help lower costs for consumers.
For many on both sides of the aisle, this includes renewable energy sources.
Chatterjee stated that the Trump administration is making an error similar to that committed by the Biden administration by canceling under-construction or previously permitted wind projects, thereby making it more difficult for renewable energy generation to expand.
“What’s been frustrating to me is I see the Trump administration making the same mistakes, just with different sources of generation, by canceling projects … putting up obstacles to deploying clean energy resources, [and] by paring back tax incentives,” Chatterjee said. “I was hopeful that the administration would not take this approach.”
A report released earlier this month by energy trend tracker Cleanview found that 1,891 power projects were canceled this year with a combined generation capacity of around 266 gigawatts. Around 93% of these projects were for wind, solar, and battery storage.
For comparison, Texas has a net generation capacity of around 168 gigawatts during the summer, according to the Energy Information Administration. One gigawatt is roughly equal to the amount of electricity needed to power approximately 750,000 homes.
Clean energy advocates and even Republican lawmakers have been encouraging the administration for months to take an “all of the above” approach to lowering electricity prices and embracing each resource.
CHRIS WRIGHT TELLS VOTES ‘FIRE ME’ IF ELECTRICITY PRICES AREN’T CUT IN TRUMP TERM
“If, as a country, we re-embrace the idea of an all of the above energy strategy, then I think we will certainly see prices temper,” American Clean Power CEO Jason Grumet told the Washington Examiner.
“There’s certainly some uncertainty about how much demand is going to actually come from the data centers. But prices are going to either rise a little or a tremendous amount …depending on whether we actually embrace all energy sources or not,” he added.
