“There will be higher prices for everybody, across the board ... I don’t see a way around that.”
In a new interview with Utility Dive, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) analyst Dennis Wamsted warned that most utilities have no path to avoid rising electricity rates—driven by surging ‘natural’ gas prices and the federal government's efforts to choke off new renewable energy. Trump’s crusade against clean power is pushing the grid toward a breaking point and hiking energy costs at a time when working-class families are already struggling to afford basic necessities. Despite vowing to “cut energy and electricity prices in half,” Trump’s energy agenda is designed to reward fossil fuel donors at the expense of working people. The outcome is inevitable: “Higher prices for everybody, across the board,” Wamstead cautioned. “I don’t see a way around that.”
| Evergreen Action has been detailing the key actions Trump has taken since his first day in office that are driving up energy prices and what they mean for everyday Americans’ wallets. You can find our ongoing analysis here. |
ICYMI: Utility Dive: Rising natural gas prices expected to drive up electricity costs: IEEFA
September 3, 2025
By: Emma Penrod
Key Points:
- Growing international demand is causing natural gas prices to rise, which will in turn push U.S. electricity prices higher now that about 40% of U.S. generation comes from natural gas, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
- While EIA anticipates high gas prices will shift more generation to coal in the short term, IEEFA energy analyst Dennis Wamsted argues the electric industry’s ability to switch back to coal generation is limited.
- Wamsted said he no longer sees how most U.S. electric utilities can avoid raising electricity rates given surging natural gas prices and declining federal support for renewable energy.
- “I believe that is going to be the outcome here,” he said. “There will be higher prices for everybody, across the board ... I don’t see a way around that.”
- In March and April, the amount of natural gas consumed by LNG exports equaled about half of all the natural gas used to produce electricity in the U.S., according to IEEFA. U.S. exports of LNG are expected to grow 84% in the next four years, but new gas production has not kept pace with rising demand, Wamsted said.
- “Economics 101” imply gas prices will reach new heights as producers continue to seek out more competitive markets overseas, he said.
- Rate case settlements to pay back the cost of these past price hikes have already resulted in fuel surcharges that are expected to remain on customer bills for years to come.
- If another international incident or severe winter weather causes additional gas price spikes, the sticker shock of multiple overlapping surcharges is likely to trigger backlash from consumers, Wamsted said.
- The likely solution, he said, is renewable energy — and especially energy storage. Battery prices continue to decline, and storage can absorb low-cost, surplus solar energy. This could deliver far more stable electric prices than natural gas in the coming years, Wamsted said.
- But to maximize the potential of battery storage, the U.S. needs to catch up on its massive grid infrastructure backlog — all while trying to build enough new generation to meet growing demand from AI data centers, according to Wamsted.
- So for the foreseeable future, Wamsted said, rising electric prices seem inevitable.
###