Trump Promised to Cut Energy Bills in Half. They Are Up 13% Since He Took Office.

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The promise was explicit: cut energy bills in half within his first year. The EIA is not a partisan source — it's the US government's own energy statistics agency. Its data shows electricity prices growing at 2.5 times the general inflation rate in 2025, the largest annual increase since December 2014. Natural gas wholesale prices rose 56% compared to the 2024 average, making home heating and cooking more expensive. Trump's OBBBA cut more than $300 billion in clean energy investments — solar, wind, and efficiency programs that reduce long-term electricity costs — while prioritizing LNG exports that raise domestic gas prices by competing for the same supply.

The 117,000 additional households that entered severe utility debt in just the first half of the administration represent real families unable to heat or cool their homes safely. Trump's FY2026 budget proposes eliminating LIHEAP — the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program that helps 6 million low-income households pay their utility bills. Cutting the safety net for people who can't afford energy while energy prices rise is not a policy contradiction for this administration. It's the pattern.

The mechanism matters. Trump's energy policy rests on the argument that removing regulations on fossil fuel production will increase supply and reduce prices. This argument hits a real-world limit: natural gas is now being exported as LNG at record rates. When the US exports more natural gas, domestic supply tightens and domestic prices rise. You cannot simultaneously maximize LNG exports and minimize domestic gas prices. The same production expansion that makes "energy dominance" look good on export charts makes home heating bills higher for the families Trump promised to help.

The $300 billion in clean energy investment cuts from the OBBBA compound the problem over time. Solar and wind reduce electricity costs by adding zero-marginal-cost generation to the grid — once built, the fuel is free. The Inflation Reduction Act's energy provisions had been accelerating solar build-out across the South and Midwest, driving down wholesale electricity prices in those markets. Killing those investments means continued dependence on gas-fired generation whose costs track the global LNG market that Trump is simultaneously inflating by maximizing exports.

Low-income households spend a disproportionate share of their income on energy — what researchers call "energy burden." The households entering utility debt are disproportionately rural, elderly, and working-class. These are Trump's voters. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low-income households pay energy bills, was targeted for significant cuts in the OBBBA's budget framework. The full policy stack — cut LIHEAP, maximize LNG exports, eliminate clean energy investment — systematically raises energy costs for the people least able to pay them while the president claims he's cutting bills in half.