Are you suggesting the electric companies should, what? Lower profits? Heresy! OP is clearly a witch.
DMVSPIRITS on
Demand > Supply
Key_Brief_8138 on
The financialization of the grid allows Enron-style energy pirates to gouge utility customers, while corporate lobbyists ensure “our” representatives enable such legalized larceny.
PoopyBootyhole on
Because we live in a credit based system. They debase our money. It’s not that they’re getting more expensive, it’s the dollar is becoming more worthless.
modernhomeowner on
My use dropped by large amounts when I first switched to LEDs 20 years ago. But since, all these smart home devices and speakers jacked up my use. My EV, my heat pump. To supply that new energy takes money, so my rate goes up on top of my use. My area, New England is expecting nearly $1 Trillionin costs to upgrade the power lines to handle all the devices currently on oil and gas that will now be electric – that’s a big cost increase.
someoldguyon_reddit on
Billionaires. Greedy assholes.
sandemonium612 on
Ask AI infrastructure
sirpoopingpooper on
Because LED lights and energy star appliances save only ~10-20% of your power consumption. Most of your consumption is HVAC.
Because data centers are sopping up all (and then some) extra capacity.
Because power monopolies have captured their regulators, enabling massive amounts of rate increases.
Because inflation devalues the dollar’s purchasing power.
Q-ArtsMedia on
Multiple reasons. Data centers being one of them.
miked5122 on
Because consumption has continued to grow at a fast pace as everything become smart or battery operated. All these data centers people complain about? Every one of uses them so we are all still driving consumption there. You pay for storage on your phone? Data centers. Use streaming services? Data centers. Surf the web? Data centers. Use AI, even with a simple google search? Data centers. Use cloud gaming or have an online pass that lets you play a library of games you don’t physically own? Data centers. The list can go on and on.
Happy_Confection90 on
Had wind farms. Had. Trump has canceled many of them, even a few somehow that were already contributing to the grid.
You voted in politicians that deregulated and privatized utilities. ..what were people expecting to happen?
danisaccountant on
Case by case basis and a lot of factors.
Generally, a majority of your energy costs are tied to cooling (and possibly heating your house and water if these appliances are electric). Old school bulbs were definitely less efficient than LEDs, but still limited in energy usage compared to larger appliances.
Many older homes are poorly insulated and leak air. This means that even with “energy star” appliances, your energy is still bleeding out of your home’s envelope.
The other factor is energy cost inflation.
SurpriseEcstatic1761 on
My electric bill was cut in half when I installed new windows
ApacheAttackChopperQ on
The m9re electricity you don’t use, AI data centers can use.
DadNotDead_ on
There’s a lot to unpack with this question. First, and most important, our grid is operating at basically full capacity. We might be generating more power, but it’s not getting to the end consumer because of shit transmission lines and storage tech. Second, overall demand hasn’t changed. Yes, you might have all LED lights, but you also have a Tesla. You might have a new, efficient HVAC, but then you run it more because it’s “efficient”. You might have solar on your roof, so you might not turn off the lights when you leave the room. We find ways to use up any sort of efficiency gains.
Third, between cloud and AI data centers, the drain on the grid is huge. Which also drives the price higher.
Fourth, utilities and wholesalers are monopolies, they are somewhat regulated, but not enough. So they get away with gouging consumers.
No_Bend_2902 on
If you say “orange” really slow, it sounds like you’re saying “gullible”!
YogiBearsPicnic on
AI Data Centers are what is driving up electric costs. Syphoning off electricity to feed Elon’s Grok instead of getting it to consumers.
Sebekiz on
One thing I did not see mentioned is that the US Electric grid is aging. Much of it was constructed in the 1950s. The power companies are going to have to spend TRILLIONS to replace and upgrade it, all while needing to keep the existing system in production as they do it. The old infrastructure is starting to fail, making them spend more money to make short term fixes while they try to implement the upgrades. This is going to be very expensive, costs that will end up being passed along to consumers.
Shintasama on
Because utilities are typically monopolies.
Sebekiz on
Regarding data centers – The major data center companies (Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, etc.) are planning on investing billions in new electricity production capacity. It’s estimated they are going to spend $80 Billion over the next ten years on various nuclear projects. Microsoft is funding a restart of the undamaged reactor at Three Mile Island. The others are investing in small, modular reactors in the 300MW to 900MW range at or near their data centers.
It probably won’t be enough to counteract all of the new demand, but it will help offset a good portion of it *IF* these projects do come online. As to whether they will truly follow through, we’ll just have to see. Many of the anticipated projects aren’t even at the phase of signing contracts, while some (the Three Mile Island reactor restart) are a bit further along.
Odd_Psychology3622 on
lots of utility’s prorate months ahead you have to stay on them if you want accurate readings sometimes its off only when its in their favor they check.
FidgetyHerbalism on
I can’t believe nobody has directly mentioned increasing population yet. Even if *no other technological advance occurred* (e.g. data centres, phone use, whatever), an ever expanding population will require ever expanding energy production just to break even.
mikeatx79 on
Primarily inflation. If you had a house full of electronics and light bulbs from the 90s your electric bill would be hundreds of dollars more than it is.
My previous house was 2×6 Walls on 24″ centers, ins ululated with ZIP and Rockwool, attic was R100, HVAC system was dampened between floors and I had 5kW of solar. My electric bill averaged $50 a month for the 5 years I owned that house. My AC only ran a couple hours a day during central Texas summers because it was well insulated.
If you want a really cheap electric bill, you need a modern home and you need to generate electricity yourself. I’m currently renting but the next house I buy is getting a bigger solar array, battery backup, and a generator. I do not want to be dependent on our power grid with AI Data Centers threatening our ability to maintain power grids anywhere. I will have power during the brown outs and blackouts that are coming.
hsg8 on
If usage is the same, the *kWh* unit which is the units consumed per month should decrease and could be tracked on the energy bill.
The $ cost of this *unit* is increasing every year so the total bill looks never decreasing
kt_cuacha on
My solar panels got my power bill into negative numbers, the power company has a debt with me, that is just discounted when I use AC heavily. I only pay water and internet.
Zebrazen on
The issue with solar and wind is that they don’t operate on human schedules. You have to build a backup coal or NG power plant with your solar or wind for demand when your renewable isn’t working. Wind isn’t blowing the right way but it’s hot and people want AC? Turn that coal plant on. It’s night and people need heat? Solar isn’t gonna work and you need power from somewhere else. The quick start plants are also a bitch from a cost perspective since rapidly turning them on is not a cheap process to build.
tiredofthebullcrap on
Where we live, the electric company keeps raising the rates every year. They also have time of day type service where it costs more to use electricity during certain times of the day during the week.
imthefrizzlefry on
Because of Capitalism. No matter how much you reduce your usage, the base fee to have service and the rate per kWh will keep going up because the utility company is a private for profit business (as opposed to a publicly owned utility that operates at cost.
30 Comments
Data Centers are a new possibility
Are you suggesting the electric companies should, what? Lower profits? Heresy! OP is clearly a witch.
Demand > Supply
The financialization of the grid allows Enron-style energy pirates to gouge utility customers, while corporate lobbyists ensure “our” representatives enable such legalized larceny.
Because we live in a credit based system. They debase our money. It’s not that they’re getting more expensive, it’s the dollar is becoming more worthless.
My use dropped by large amounts when I first switched to LEDs 20 years ago. But since, all these smart home devices and speakers jacked up my use. My EV, my heat pump. To supply that new energy takes money, so my rate goes up on top of my use. My area, New England is expecting nearly $1 Trillionin costs to upgrade the power lines to handle all the devices currently on oil and gas that will now be electric – that’s a big cost increase.
Billionaires. Greedy assholes.
Ask AI infrastructure
Because LED lights and energy star appliances save only ~10-20% of your power consumption. Most of your consumption is HVAC.
Because data centers are sopping up all (and then some) extra capacity.
Because power monopolies have captured their regulators, enabling massive amounts of rate increases.
Because inflation devalues the dollar’s purchasing power.
Multiple reasons. Data centers being one of them.
Because consumption has continued to grow at a fast pace as everything become smart or battery operated. All these data centers people complain about? Every one of uses them so we are all still driving consumption there. You pay for storage on your phone? Data centers. Use streaming services? Data centers. Surf the web? Data centers. Use AI, even with a simple google search? Data centers. Use cloud gaming or have an online pass that lets you play a library of games you don’t physically own? Data centers. The list can go on and on.
Had wind farms. Had. Trump has canceled many of them, even a few somehow that were already contributing to the grid.
January: [Donald Trump Cancels Construction of One of America’s Largest Wind Farms](https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-cancels-large-wind-farm-project-idaho-2018261)
August: [Trump admin cancels $679 million for offshore wind projects as attacks on reeling industry continue](https://apnews.com/article/trump-offshore-wind-renewable-energy-transportation-8578da8b985b6d4eef20ec4d85c21b5d)
This week: [Trump administration suspends 5 wind projects off the East Coast [for at least 90 days], cites national security concerns](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/12/22/trump-offshore-wind-energy-climate/4ccdbbaa-df49-11f0-9a80-62add4d0e8ef_story.html)
You voted in politicians that deregulated and privatized utilities. ..what were people expecting to happen?
Case by case basis and a lot of factors.
Generally, a majority of your energy costs are tied to cooling (and possibly heating your house and water if these appliances are electric). Old school bulbs were definitely less efficient than LEDs, but still limited in energy usage compared to larger appliances.
Many older homes are poorly insulated and leak air. This means that even with “energy star” appliances, your energy is still bleeding out of your home’s envelope.
The other factor is energy cost inflation.
My electric bill was cut in half when I installed new windows
The m9re electricity you don’t use, AI data centers can use.
There’s a lot to unpack with this question. First, and most important, our grid is operating at basically full capacity. We might be generating more power, but it’s not getting to the end consumer because of shit transmission lines and storage tech. Second, overall demand hasn’t changed. Yes, you might have all LED lights, but you also have a Tesla. You might have a new, efficient HVAC, but then you run it more because it’s “efficient”. You might have solar on your roof, so you might not turn off the lights when you leave the room. We find ways to use up any sort of efficiency gains.
Third, between cloud and AI data centers, the drain on the grid is huge. Which also drives the price higher.
Fourth, utilities and wholesalers are monopolies, they are somewhat regulated, but not enough. So they get away with gouging consumers.
If you say “orange” really slow, it sounds like you’re saying “gullible”!
AI Data Centers are what is driving up electric costs. Syphoning off electricity to feed Elon’s Grok instead of getting it to consumers.
One thing I did not see mentioned is that the US Electric grid is aging. Much of it was constructed in the 1950s. The power companies are going to have to spend TRILLIONS to replace and upgrade it, all while needing to keep the existing system in production as they do it. The old infrastructure is starting to fail, making them spend more money to make short term fixes while they try to implement the upgrades. This is going to be very expensive, costs that will end up being passed along to consumers.
Because utilities are typically monopolies.
Regarding data centers – The major data center companies (Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, etc.) are planning on investing billions in new electricity production capacity. It’s estimated they are going to spend $80 Billion over the next ten years on various nuclear projects. Microsoft is funding a restart of the undamaged reactor at Three Mile Island. The others are investing in small, modular reactors in the 300MW to 900MW range at or near their data centers.
It probably won’t be enough to counteract all of the new demand, but it will help offset a good portion of it *IF* these projects do come online. As to whether they will truly follow through, we’ll just have to see. Many of the anticipated projects aren’t even at the phase of signing contracts, while some (the Three Mile Island reactor restart) are a bit further along.
lots of utility’s prorate months ahead you have to stay on them if you want accurate readings sometimes its off only when its in their favor they check.
I can’t believe nobody has directly mentioned increasing population yet. Even if *no other technological advance occurred* (e.g. data centres, phone use, whatever), an ever expanding population will require ever expanding energy production just to break even.
Primarily inflation. If you had a house full of electronics and light bulbs from the 90s your electric bill would be hundreds of dollars more than it is.
My previous house was 2×6 Walls on 24″ centers, ins ululated with ZIP and Rockwool, attic was R100, HVAC system was dampened between floors and I had 5kW of solar. My electric bill averaged $50 a month for the 5 years I owned that house. My AC only ran a couple hours a day during central Texas summers because it was well insulated.
If you want a really cheap electric bill, you need a modern home and you need to generate electricity yourself. I’m currently renting but the next house I buy is getting a bigger solar array, battery backup, and a generator. I do not want to be dependent on our power grid with AI Data Centers threatening our ability to maintain power grids anywhere. I will have power during the brown outs and blackouts that are coming.
If usage is the same, the *kWh* unit which is the units consumed per month should decrease and could be tracked on the energy bill.
The $ cost of this *unit* is increasing every year so the total bill looks never decreasing
My solar panels got my power bill into negative numbers, the power company has a debt with me, that is just discounted when I use AC heavily. I only pay water and internet.
The issue with solar and wind is that they don’t operate on human schedules. You have to build a backup coal or NG power plant with your solar or wind for demand when your renewable isn’t working. Wind isn’t blowing the right way but it’s hot and people want AC? Turn that coal plant on. It’s night and people need heat? Solar isn’t gonna work and you need power from somewhere else. The quick start plants are also a bitch from a cost perspective since rapidly turning them on is not a cheap process to build.
Where we live, the electric company keeps raising the rates every year. They also have time of day type service where it costs more to use electricity during certain times of the day during the week.
Because of Capitalism. No matter how much you reduce your usage, the base fee to have service and the rate per kWh will keep going up because the utility company is a private for profit business (as opposed to a publicly owned utility that operates at cost.
At least, that is my situation…