Americans Face Record-High Electricity Bills This Summer as Heat and Costs Surge

Americans are confronting record-high electricity bills this summer as rising energy prices combine with forecast-breaking temperatures to drive up cooling costs nationwide. The average U.S. household is expected to spend approximately $792 on electricity between June and September, representing a 10.5 percent increase from the same period last year when costs totaled $717, according to analysis from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. Since 2020, average summer cooling costs have climbed nearly 40 percent due to surging electricity prices and increasingly hot temperatures, with inflation-adjusted costs projected to be about 7 percent higher than six years ago.

The financial strain is already evident across American households. One in six households is behind on utility bill payments, while nearly 40 percent of households earning less than $50,000 report difficulty keeping up with expenses. This disproportionately affects lower-income families who face difficult choices between paying utility bills and covering other necessities such as food, rent, or medicine. Forecasters predict record-breaking heat for 2026, with approximately 26 million people across the West, Plains, and Southeast expected to experience extreme heat this weekend, with temperatures ranging from the 90s to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cooling costs are projected to increase across every region of the country, with particularly steep rises expected in the Mountain and South Atlantic regions. The West South Central region, encompassing Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, is anticipated to experience some of the highest electricity bills in the nation this summer. The West Coast will also see temperatures 10 to 25 degrees above average. According to Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, "Electricity prices continue to rise, and hotter summers mean households need to use more electricity simply to stay safe. The result is that Americans are paying substantially more to cool their homes than they were just a few years ago."

In response to the escalating crisis, the National Energy Assistance Directors Association is calling on Congress to increase funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to $7 billion for fiscal year 2027. The organization's analysis indicates that existing energy assistance programs are failing to keep pace with rising electricity costs, leaving vulnerable populations increasingly exposed to hardship as summer temperatures peak.