Residential Electricity Prices Are Surging Even More

Zerohedge has been warning for months about the impending crisis of exploding electricity bills and the lack of jobs for graduates, predicting a "luddite revolution." They believe this will manifest as data centers being targeted within a year. Now, even the Washington Post is acknowledging the issue, with Bloomberg reporting that rising retail electricity prices have become a significant political concern in several US states. The Mid-Atlantic regional grid, PJM, is particularly under-energized, with eight out of thirteen US regional power markets already below critical spare capacity levels. Power prices were a major campaign theme in 2025 elections and are expected to heavily influence the 2026 national midterms. Data center power demand is projected to reach 106 GW by 2035, a massive increase from 2024 levels. This surge in demand, coupled with the need for 100 GW of new peak capacity by 2030, with data centers accounting for half of that, suggests electricity bills could increase dramatically. Data centers may account for as much as 12% of peak demand by 2028. Bloomberg notes that affordability politics impact climate initiatives and data centers, which are blamed for price hikes. The author speculates whether Donald Trump will impose price controls on utilities before the midterms to lower electric bills, potentially causing independent power producer stocks to fall.