Voter frustration over rising electricity costs is emerging as a major issue heading into next year’s midterm elections, especially in communities facing sharp rate hikes or disputes over who should pay to power energy-heavy data centers.
According to The Associated Press, electricity costs influenced this week’s elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents on the state utility regulatory commission.
Voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California, and New York City cited economic concerns as their top priority, making affordability a central theme in the battle for control of Congress.
“There’s a lot of pressure on politicians to talk about affordability, and electricity prices are right now the most clear example of problems of affordability,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of politics and government and pollster at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
Many Americans could face further increases next year. Gas and electric utilities are seeking or have secured rate hikes totaling more than $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, more than double the same period in 2024, according to consumer advocacy group PowerLines.
“With some 80 million Americans struggling to pay their utility bills, it’s a life or death and ‘eat or heat’ type decision that people have to make,” said Charles Hua, founder of PowerLines.
In Georgia, data center projects have sparked local pushback. Democrat Peter Hubbard, elected to the state utility commission, criticized Republicans for “rubber-stamping” rate increases by Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co. Monthly bills for a typical residential customer have risen to $175, six times over the past two years.
Rebecca Mekonnen, a voter in Stone Mountain, said affordability guided her choice at the polls. “That’s the main thing. It’s running my pocket right now,” she said.
Georgia Power is proposing a $15 billion expansion to meet data center demand, prompting Hubbard to question whether the costs will be fairly shared between tech companies and regular ratepayers.
Rising electricity bills are expected to shape battleground congressional races in California, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Analysts attribute increases to grid modernization, extreme weather protection, demand from data centers, bitcoin miners, domestic manufacturing, and higher natural gas prices.
“The cost of utility service is the new ‘cost of eggs’ concern for a lot of consumers,” said Jennifer Bosco of the National Consumer Law Center.
Some data centers use as much electricity as 100,000 homes, and in certain cases more than entire cities, according to the International Energy Agency. While states have welcomed data centers for economic reasons, legislatures and utility commissions are under pressure to protect regular ratepayers.
An AP-NORC poll in October found that 36% of U.S. adults view electricity bills as a “major” source of stress, with low-income heating aid delayed in some areas due to the federal government shutdown.
Electric rates vary widely. For-profit utilities have raised rates faster than municipally owned utilities or cooperatives. In the 13-state Mid-Atlantic grid from Illinois to New Jersey, ratepayers are paying billions to power data centers, including some not yet built.
“Only some states are the drivers of higher average electric bills,” said Drew Maloney, CEO of the Edison Electric Institute. “If you set aside a few states with higher rates, the rest of the country largely follows inflation on electricity rates.”
States with the fastest-growing rates include California, due to wildfire-related grid upgrades, and New England, where limited natural gas capacity has pushed prices higher. Other states, like Indiana, are seeing record increases tied to data center growth, prompting Republican Gov. Mike Braun to declare, “we can’t take it anymore.”
