Your electricity bill is not imagining things. Market commentator The Kobeissi Letter said U.S. electricity prices are "skyrocketing," with the average residential price up 11% since January 2025 to 19.6 cents per kilowatt-hour in August 2026, near an all-time high.
The Kobeissi Letter made the remarks in a post on X, linking the rise to the AI boom. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene separately posted on X that "AI companies are claiming they are going to pay Americans thousands for free every month."
Power Prices Climb As AI Demand Surges
The Kobeissi Letter said average prices in the first eight months of 2026 were 40% higher than in the same period of 2019. Maine saw the largest increase at 90%, followed by California and New York at nearly 70%.
The analysis noted that data centers need "enormous amounts of electricity" to power thousands of chips and cooling systems, and that a 1-gigawatt data center can consume as much electricity as 800,000 homes. Wholesale prices in areas near significant data center activity surged by as much as 267% between 2020 and 2025.
"The AI revolution is driving a surge in electricity demand, and households are increasingly feeling the cost," the post read.
Greene Warns On AI 'Living Wage' Claims
Greene wrote that AI companies are claiming the payments will come every month as a "living wage" and that "you won't need to work." She added: "Kids, nothing is free in life."
Washington Weighs Who Pays
The posts come as the fight over who covers data center power costs plays out in Washington. Last month, the House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act 417-3, which would require utilities to consider rates for certain large-load customers that recover the cost of upgrading the grid to serve them.
The Trump administration also launched a voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge, under which Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) (GOOGL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc. (META), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), OpenAI, xAI, and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) agreed to cover grid upgrades tied to their data centers.
Separately, Vice President JD Vance defended the Trump administration's data center expansion, acknowledging that facilities can "cause real problems" and calling residents' reported $300 electricity bill increases "totally unacceptable."
