Two utility bills climbed faster than the grocery bill over the past year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that electricity prices rose 3.8% and piped gas service rose 4.4% over the 12 months ending in August 2026, both ahead of the 2.2% increase for food bought at the grocery store over the same stretch.…

A new 15 percent tariff on imported polysilicon, the raw material at the base of nearly every solar panel sold in the United States, takes effect December 4, 2026. The tariff, and a minimum price floor issued alongside it, is aimed at rebuilding a domestic polysilicon industry that has nearly disappeared over the past two…

Homes that heat with natural gas are getting a cautiously encouraging forecast ahead of the coldest months. The Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, released September 9, projects that the nation’s natural gas storage will enter winter about 5 percent above the five-year average, a cushion that historically has helped keep heating costs in check.…

No state’s electricity revenue climbed faster this July than Hawaii’s, where utilities collected 25.4 percent more per kilowatt-hour sold than they did in July 2025. Ohio followed at 15.2 percent and Maryland at 14.8 percent, according to newly released federal energy data covering every customer that buys electricity, not households alone. The figures come from…

The average price a household paid for electricity climbed to 18.31 cents per kilowatt-hour in July 2026, a 4.9 percent increase from the same month a year earlier, according to newly released federal data. The Energy Information Administration published the figures on September 24 as part of its regular Electric Power Monthly update, giving a…

Piped natural gas delivered to homes cost 4.4 percent more in August 2026 than it did a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index. The same report shows that price actually falling during the month the data was collected. Both numbers are accurate at once, and the gap between…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measured two very different price stories inside the same August 2026 Consumer Price Index report. Energy — the combined cost of gasoline, electricity, natural gas service and heating fuel — rose 16.3 percent over the twelve months ending in August. Set energy and food aside, and the rest of…

No federal rule requires the operator of a data center to pay for the power plant built to serve it. What exists instead is a signature page. The Ratepayer Protection Pledge, published by the White House, now carries commitments from organizations the page says cover 263 million Americans, three-quarters of the population, and roughly 80…

A monthly credit that had sat at $40 for income-eligible DTE Gas Co. customers is now $58. The Michigan Public Service Commission set the higher figure deliberately, pegging it at approximately 70 percent of the utility’s proposed average monthly bill rather than picking a round number. For a household inside the program, the change is…

Natural gas rates for Xcel Energy’s residential customers in Colorado rise 8.6 percent on October 6, which works out to $5.16 a month, or about $62 across twelve months. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission reached its final decision in the case on September 4, roughly six weeks before most Colorado furnaces begin running in earnest.…