US energy bills surge 30% as one in three households struggle to pay
American households face a deepening energy affordability crisis, with costs up roughly 30% since 2021 and over 15 million homes disconnected for unpaid bills.
Energy costs across the United States have climbed sharply in recent years, leaving millions of households in a precarious position. According to reporting from The Conversation, energy prices increased approximately 30% on average between 2021 and 2026, but the picture varies drastically by region. In the Mid-Atlantic and eastern Midwest—where the electrical grid is run by PJM Interconnection—power prices in the first quarter of 2026 were 76% higher than the same period in 2025, suggesting that national averages mask far steeper increases in some areas.
The human cost of these increases is substantial. In 2024, one in three American households reported struggling to pay their energy bills. More starkly, 15.1 million homes were disconnected from their electricity or gas services because residents could not afford to pay. For the families affected, energy insecurity poses not only a financial hardship but a potentially dangerous situation, particularly during extreme weather.
Federal assistance falls short
The federal government operates two main programs designed to help lower-income households manage energy costs. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides aid specifically for heating in winter and cooling in summer, with Congress allocating roughly $4 billion to it in 2025. Yet that funding has historically proven insufficient to meet demand across all households in need.
The program's future remains uncertain. In his last two budget proposals, President Donald Trump has called for eliminating all LIHEAP funding, though Congress has so far preserved it.
A second federal effort, the Weatherization Assistance Program, invests around $370 million annually to help people reduce consumption by sealing gaps around windows and doors and improving insulation. The program serves approximately 32,000 homes each year, saving each household an average of $372 in direct energy costs annually—a modest but meaningful return for participating families.
Who governs the grid?
Multiple layers of regulation oversee the nation's electricity system. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state public utility commissions jointly regulate prices and practices, with federal law requiring them to ensure rates remain "just and reasonable." At the operational level, regional transmission organizations—nonprofit entities that collectively manage most of the nation's electrical grid under federal supervision—make decisions about grid efficiency, the connection of new power plants, and market rules.
Many parties in these marketplaces, from the federal government to individual consumers, have opportunities to help provide Americans with affordable energy.
These entities theoretically have authority to ensure utilities do not earn outsized profits and that markets produce fair pricing for consumers. Whether current regulatory structures are sufficiently aggressive in wielding that power remains a subject of debate, however, and reporting on this affordability crisis is still developing as the scope of the challenge becomes clearer.