Voter anger over the cost of living is accelerating in the run-up to next year’s midterm elections, where key issues will be determined by regions with skyrocketing electricity prices or fights over who pays for Big Tech’s energy-guzzling data centers.
Electricity bill was an important issue This week’s gubernatorial election New Jersey and Virginia are data center hotspots, and georgiawhere Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s Utility Regulatory Commission.
All voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California, and New York City were cited. economic concerns Top issues as Democrats and Republicans prepare for debate affordable price In an escalating mid-term battle for control of Congress.
President Donald Trump has already hinted that: He will focus on affordability next year While President Trump and the Republican Party seek to maintain their slim congressional majorities, Democrats are blaming President Trump for the rise in household spending.
The main issue may be the electricity bill. Electricity costs are increasing faster than average inflation in the United States in many places, but not everywhere.
“There’s a lot of pressure on politicians to talk about affordability, and electricity prices are the most obvious example of an affordability problem right now,” said Dan Cassino, a politics and government professor and pollster at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
Rising electricity prices are unlikely to ease, and many Americans could see their monthly bills increase during next year’s campaign.
A rise in electricity prices is imminent
Gas and electric utilities are seeking or have already secured more than $34 billion in rate increases in the first three quarters of 2025, according to a report from consumer advocacy group Powerlines. This was more than double the same period last year.
With about 80 million Americans struggling to pay their utility bills, “this is a life-or-death decision that people are forced to make, like ‘eat or be hot,'” said Charles Hua, founder of Powerlines.
In Georgia, a data center proposal is stirring up local communities, while victorious Democrat Peter Hubbard accused Republicans of commissioning “rubber-stamp” rate increases by Georgia Power, a subsidiary of power giant Southern Company.
Monthly power bills in Georgia have increased six times over the past two years, and the typical residential customer now pays an average monthly bill of $175.
Mr. Hubbard’s message appears to have resonated with voters. Rebecca Mekonnen, who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain, said she voted for the Democratic challenger. “I want more affordability. That’s the main thing. It’s lining my pocket right now.”
Georgia Power is currently proposing to spend $15 billion to expand power generation capacity, primarily to meet demand from data centers, but Hubbard questions whether data centers will pay their fair share or share it with regular ratepayers.
Hot spot mid-term battleground
The midterm elections will see heated legislative races in states where rising electricity prices, data center hotspots, or both are fueling community revolts.
For that, California, georgia, michigan, ohio, pennsylvania and texas.
Analysts attribute the rise in electricity prices to a combination of factors.
This includes big-ticket projects to modernize the power grid and harden utility poles, wires and substations against extreme weather events and wildfires.
Also, the role is explosive demand From data centers, Bitcoin miners, the movement to revive the domestic manufacturing industry, and the upward trend natural gas pricesays the analyst.
“The cost of public services has become a new ‘cost of eggs’ concern for many consumers,” said Jennifer Bosco of the National Consumer Law Center.
According to the International Energy Agency, a typical AI data center uses the equivalent electricity of 100,000 homes, so data centers are driving a significant increase in demand in some regions. Some cities may require more electricity than cities of the same size pittsburghcleveland or new orleans.
many states Aimed to attract data center As an economic boon, Congress and the Public Works Committee were flooded with proposals that tried to: To protect recurring fee payers You no longer have to pay to connect your data center to the power grid.
Meanwhile, communities that don’t want to live next door are pushing back.
it’s in the voters’ minds
Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center public opinion poll An October survey found that electricity bills are a “major” source of stress for 36% of U.S. adults.
Now that autumn is turning into winter, Some states have warned Delays in funding for low-income heating subsidies federal government shutdown.
Still, its impact remains uneven compared to other financial stressors, such as grocery bills, which just over half of U.S. adults say is a “major” source of stress.
Additionally, electricity rates vary widely depending on the state and power company.
For example, federal data shows that for-profit utilities are increasing rates at a much faster pace than municipally-owned utilities and cooperatives.
Analysts say ratepayers are paying billions of dollars in power costs for data centers on the power grid in 13 Mid-Atlantic states, from Illinois to New Jersey, including those that have yet to be built.
Next June, electricity bills across the region will absorb billions more from higher wholesale power costs designed to attract new power plants to power data centers.
This prompted governors in the region, including Pennsylvania. Josh ShapiroIllinois JB Pritzker and of Maryland wes mooreall Democrats running for re-election – to pressure grid operator PJM Interconnection to curb the increase.
Comparison of high interest rate states and low interest rate states
Drew Maloney, CEO of the Edison Electric Association, a trade group for commercial power companies, suggested that only some states are causing average electricity prices to rise.
“Apart from a few states with higher rates, the rest of the country will primarily follow electricity price inflation,” Maloney said.
Examples of states with faster increases include: Californiawhere wildfire Power grid upgrades are underway in New England, and natural gas prices are high in New England due to tight pipeline capacity.
Still, other states are also feeling the pinch.
In Indiana, a growing data center hotspot, consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition reported this year that residential customers of the state’s for-profit utilities are absorbing the steepest rate increases in at least two decades.
Republican Gov. Mike Brown denounced the price hikes, saying, “I can’t stand it anymore.”
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Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
