Power bills and data centres cast rare spotlight on utilities in US midterms

Dawn · 31/10/2026، 12:59:33 PM

US electricity prices had flown under the radar in past national elections, but they have become a major political issue in this year’s midterms as Americans grow angry over rising utility bills and deals for power-hungry data centres. Nationwide, according to Energy Information Administration data, electricity prices for homes have risen more than 10 per cent since 2024, when President Donald Trump was elected along with Republican majorities in both houses of the US Congress. Higher electricity prices have outpaced the rise in costs for other goods and services. Power bills have grown even faster in political battleground states of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which are also hot spots for new data centres. In some cases, electricity bills have soared by triple the inflation rate. A drone view shows construction underway ona data centre in Union City, Georgia, the US on September 1, 2026. — Reuters/File Many politicians vying for top statehouse seats across the country this year have backed cracking down on utilities. Some have proposed freezing utility rate increases and slashing guaranteed returns, steps that could have sweeping consequences for the country’s utility industry. “It could be the first election to feature utilities and electricity, specifically, as a prominent issue in the midterms,” said Charles Hua, executive director of PowerLines, a nonprofit that advocates reforming utility policy to favour consumers. “Part of that is because people’s utility bills have gone up and up, and they don’t see any end in sight.” Utilities are heavily regulated. State regulators generally must approve utilities’ requests to spend on the grid and to recover those costs through rate increases. Regulators also set the return on equity utilities can earn on their grid investments. This year, utilities are on track to match last year’s record high $31 billion in rate increase requests to regulators, a PowerLines survey showed. Last year’s spending was double the previo