Inside The $250 Electric Bill: Dissecting The Midterms' Most Hated Piece Of Mail

For what Reuters called a first in modern U.S. history, monthly electricity bills are becoming a ballot issue in the midterms, with utility commissioners literally central to the debate in nine states. The analysis revisits CPI electricity trends: since January 2020, the electricity component of CPI is up 43%, while the headline index is up 30%. The average kilowatt-hour price rose from 13.4 cents to 19.6 cents, a 46% increase, and electricity CPI remains up 4.4% year over year. The report says bill increases can reflect commodity costs like natural gas and wholesale power, delivery charges tied to grid investment, and other customer charges including taxes, public benefits, clean energy mandates and wildfire-related costs. It argues the mix varies heavily by ZIP code rather than party preference.