Households will pay more for energy because of Trump's policy changes, think tank says

Households in the contiguous United States will pay thousands of dollars more for energy through 2040 because of federal policy changes since President Donald Trump returned to office, according to modeling released Friday by a nonpartisan think tank. In five states, households will pay roughly $9,000 more: Oregon, Mississippi, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming.The California-based think tank said there will be more demand for natural gas for electricity because the administration is canceling new clean energy projects and there will be more demand for gasoline for transportation because Trump and Congress are revoking policies that encouraged or created incentives for more efficient and lower-emissions vehicles. Higher demand drives prices up.Electricity bills are already rising faster than inflation in much of the U.S., which is being blamed in some areas on demand from data centers.

The Iran war has sent oil and gasoline prices sharply higher, too.Contrarily, Trump has said his administration's energy policies will make bills more affordable for families and businesses. White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said Wednesday that lowering electricity prices remains a top priority and Trump is unleashing reliable energy like coal and natural gas to reverse the “catastrophic damage” Democrats did to the power grid by ramping up clean energy. A 2025 Department of Energy report, mandated by Trump, warned of increasing blackouts if the U.S.

continued closing coal and natural gas plants.“Joe Biden created a grid crisis; President Trump is fixing it,” Rogers wrote in an email. “If the Democrats had their way, these costly and unreliable renewable energy projects would still be failing our grid and our communities.”The Republican president prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity, unlike Biden, who saw clean energy as a climate solution.Analysis examined impact on states solely from federal policy changesIt focused on the sweeping package of tax breaks that slashed funding for clean energy tax credits, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, Trump signed; environmental rollbacks, including clean air and power plant rules and the revocation of a scientific finding that underpinned the U.S. fight against climate change; the loosening of f…