My home electric bill has basically doubled in the past 4 months! WTF is going on?

[Lightning Rod]

I live in Northeast Ohio and my electric bill while owning my Lightning for the last 30 months has ALWAYS been right around 140 dollars. During the scalding hot summer months with the central AC running constant, the bill was always no more than $180-$200, and all of this is with sometimes heavy charging of the Lightning.

Now I'm paying over 300 dollars, and it seems that every month it keeps going up. We've been using measures to lessen our electric usage and it's still going higher. They're blaming all the AI data centers, but why do we have to pay for that sh!t?

It's going to get to point where ICE vehicles and going to be more economical.

OK, end of rant... for now.

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[K6CCC]

Don't look at dollars (yet), look at consumption. Has your consumption changed a lot? If the consumption (from your bill) has not changed unexpectedly, then look at the rates - has your electric rate changed? Have you been changed to a Time of Use rate, or to a different TOU rate? If you are on a TOU rate, is the setting to only charge at low rate periods gotten messed up?
If on the other hand, the consumption has changed, look at charge history on the truck (or easier if your EVSE can report it). Is the truck taking far more power? Have your driving habits changed? Has anything else changed in your house that would change your consumption?

 

[Heliian]

why do we have to pay for that sh!t?

So other people can get rich without actually providing any useful input to society.

It's a scam, they had to pivot to something else after the cryptocurrency scam attempt failed.

 

[RST]

My electricity cost has also doubled, but not in the last 4 months. Two and a half years ago, when my truck was new, my electric rate (Supply charge + Delivery charge + 8% sale tax) was $.1273 per kWh. Now it's $.2512 per kWh, and our power company has applied with the Public Service Commission for another 23% rate increase. NY State will probably approve it....as any increase in rates = increased tax revenue.

 

[Firn]

Remember, things like refrigerator compressors can start to go bad and consume a lot more electricity.

To understand this issue we do need to know how your consumption tracks, and what your rate is and how it has changed.

Lots of reasons your electricity bill can change, including your neighbor stealing electricity

 

[Yellow Buddy]

I live in Northeast Ohio and my electric bill while owning my Lightning for the last 30 months has ALWAYS been right around 140 dollars. During the scalding hot summer months with the central AC running constant, the bill was always no more than $180-$200, and all of this is with sometimes heavy charging of the Lightning.

Now I'm paying over 300 dollars, and it seems that every month it keeps going up. We've been using measures to lessen our electric usage and it's still going higher. They're blaming all the AI data centers, but why do we have to pay for that sh!t?

It's going to get to point where ICE vehicles and going to be more economical.

OK, end of rant... for now.

Counterpoint:

I installed solar about 10+ years ago that offset 80% of my usage. After buying an electric car, I installed a secondary system to cover 100% of my usage. The solar system covered themselves in price within 5 years due to state and federal incentives.

I ended up installing minor improvements over time to the house and now my electric bill is negative and decreasing as the rates increase.

I couldn’t make ICE more economical unless I moved to Texas and installed a personal oil well..

 

[Quibbs]

I live in Northeast Ohio and my electric bill while owning my Lightning for the last 30 months has ALWAYS been right around 140 dollars. During the scalding hot summer months with the central AC running constant, the bill was always no more than $180-$200, and all of this is with sometimes heavy charging of the Lightning.

Now I'm paying over 300 dollars, and it seems that every month it keeps going up. We've been using measures to lessen our electric usage and it's still going higher. They're blaming all the AI data centers, but why do we have to pay for that sh!t?

It's going to get to point where ICE vehicles and going to be more economical.

OK, end of rant... for now.

Here in SC they passed a new energy bill. Which is basically the same energy bill they are passing in other states. Main driver, AI data centers. Basically we are subsidizing billionaires projects (google, Microsoft) via electrical bills. Here's what they wouldn't allow into the now passed bill...

Last week, the House rejected several key consumer protections added by the Senate in April, including:

• Common-sense energy efficiency requirements that would require utilities to invest more in measures to reduce load and lower bills;
• Notice to landowners whose private property will be taken by eminent domain for new energy projects and pipelines;
• Protections to ensure ratepayers aren’t footing the bill for multi-trillion-dollar data center companies; and
• Requirements for data centers to report their annual water usage amounts, information that isn’t currently publicly available.

So what did the SC senate do? Nothing but say ok, you win, we'll pass the house version as is.
They are also allowing utilities to raise rates once a year. They don't want to make the Ai data centers report water usage because just one data center can use about 600 olympic swimming pools of water a year...

If you do not think it's going to get worse, I got bad news for you.

 

[Cvh8601]

My total rate in MD has gone from $0.17/kWh to $0.25/kWh (~+50%!!!) over my 14 months of ownership.

I’ll have to do some math to check but I would be surprised if it wasn’t cheaper to run gasoline now for at least an equivalent f-150. Eco boost is still definitely the inferior powertrain, but electricity costs have gone nuts.

 

[kf59]

I live in Northeast Ohio and my electric bill while owning my Lightning for the last 30 months has ALWAYS been right around 140 dollars. During the scalding hot summer months with the central AC running constant, the bill was always no more than $180-$200, and all of this is with sometimes heavy charging of the Lightning.

Now I'm paying over 300 dollars, and it seems that every month it keeps going up. We've been using measures to lessen our electric usage and it's still going higher. They're blaming all the AI data centers, but why do we have to pay for that sh!t?

It's going to get to point where ICE vehicles and going to be more economical.

OK, end of rant... for now.

You have until the end of the year to break ground on solar and qualify for the federal tax incentives. Rate hikes are only going to get worse. Coal and natural gas don’t pay for the utilities and society has turned against large scale wind, solar, and nuclear. Demand is rising and supply is stagnant. It’s produce your own or pay.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Don't look at dollars (yet), look at consumption. Has your consumption changed a lot? I

Honestly ..... look at the rates for Energy and Delivery on your old bills vs recent bill's the 'rates' have been skyrocketing.

In 2022 I was paying 24.9 cents a kWh
In 2023 I was paying 29.7 cents a kWh
In 2024 I was paying 35.3 cents a kWh
In 2025 I am paying 40.9 cents a kWh

 

[THX1138]

Don't look at dollars (yet), look at consumption. Has your consumption changed a lot? If the consumption (from your bill) has not changed unexpectedly, then look at the rates - has your electric rate changed? Have you been changed to a Time of Use rate, or to a different TOU rate? If you are on a TOU rate, is the setting to only charge at low rate periods gotten messed up?
If on the other hand, the consumption has changed, look at charge history on the truck (or easier if your EVSE can report it). Is the truck taking far more power? Have your driving habits changed? Has anything else changed in your house that would change your consumption?

Consumption and the cost for delivered kwh. That might have changed, depending on your electric supplier. Look at the price per kwh from the most recent bill and from six months ago.

 

[hturnerfamily]

when I was the Mayor of our small home town for a while, and we have our own electrical system, and bill our residents directly from City Hall, I had many instances where residents would come busting in the door, demanding that we had overcharged them, and must have a special 'button' to do so... what?

in most cases, it was generally due to their own misuse of electrical power, leaving the front door open, while running the a/c 24/7... etc. No, we have no 'magic button' to charge you more, Mr/Mrs Resident - it's all due to YOUR usage. We only charge for the kwh of used power.

many would also argue that the 'other' utility provider was 'much cheaper', although they had no data to back that up, and, frankly, our k/ph rate was lower, they would insist that 'they' knew better.
Yes, it's hard to 'compare' utility cost, from one provider to another, without being able to see both bills for EXACTLY the same home, for the same month, for the same exact usage. I'll bet that they would not be satisfied with the other provider, either. But, there is no satisfying some people, no matter how hard and well you try.

we had others who demanded that 'we', the city, were overcharging them for water. When the water department checked the resident's meter at the street, the meter would be turning, although no water was being used within the home, at least that they were aware of. Come to find out, the home had a leak, a leaking toilet, a broken water line between the city's meter and the home, etc. Convincing the resident, then, that it was up to them to 'repair' the issue was a hard sell, no matter how much of the responsibility fell on their own shoulders.

As to ELECTRICITY Billing, though, it can be more of mystery, as most of us never look at our meter, or make a note of the 'starting' and 'ending' KWH usage, to compare to our next bill.
I find that my new local EMC's billing is simple. KWH usage x the KW rate, plus taxes.
But, my former utility, GEORGIA POWER, was not so much. I would take the same calculation, and come up with a figure that was just over 1/2 of the bill.... what? Even including all taxes, fees, and known additional charges, I would NEVER arrive at the HIGHER billing amount.
I called. Customer said "well, we have other charges that are not shown on the bill"... WHAT??
She said that there were additional charges that were not required to be shown, but could NOT tell me why, what they were for... nothing. I found that LUDICROUS, and even emailed the PSC, the Public Service Commission, in Georgia, who has jurisdiction over public utilities.... and never heard anything back.


Why is your 'bill' now much higher than before, or than you expect? There are just too many variables and factors to help you. Unless someone else in your same utility has a similar situation, or complaint, to compare, it's hard to know if it's your USAGE, or the utility RATE changing, etc.
You need to compare your former bills to your latest one.
It could also be other NEW fees, yes, but, as of yet, there is no such thing as a 'data center' fee, just because the utility might be expanding equipment to supply them.

Some utility RATE plans may also increase the RATE once you EXCEED a certain base usage.

Georgia Power here, is expanding, to supply the LARGEST DATA CENTER in the country - QTS.
I'm glad I'm with the local EMC, instead... just in case.

 

[digitaldad]

Some utility RATE plans may also increase the RATE once you EXCEED a certain base usage.

THIS exactly!

 

[The Weatherman]

I am in the camp that is outraged by the rising electric rates around the country in support of the AI data center demands.

Why am I paying for the demand brought in by these questionable technologies? Why aren’t the organizations demanding the extraordinary levels of power paying an elevated rate at their terminals?

I’m sorry we should have to carry their load!!

 

[EFG]

There is a complex cost relationship between utility provided intermittent renewable energy generation and the need for utility natural gas (generally) equivalent dispatch-able power generation for when the renewable sources fail to shine or blow. Many states are running the basically flawed argument that certain renewable energy generation sources (solar and wind) are cheaper than other forms of generation, on a total cost basis, they are generally NOT. I exclude nuclear and hydro from this list because aren't typically forms of quickly "dispatch-able" forms of generation.

Individual US states electricity costs are beginning to get out of control as the penetration of wind and solar become more prevalent on their grids. You can look at the situation in the UK and California as good examples of where their choices are already at the heart of these rapidly rising prices. States like New Jersey are about to experience this in spades. It actually is a major issue going forward in the current governors race in NJ, their failed investments in offshore wind specifically are going to cost rate payers billions of dollars. Other states like North Dakota and Florida are examples of where this trend has been mostly avoided. I am not trying to make an ecological argument here, merely a financial one. I have a 20 KW solar system and 27KWh battery storage system on my house so I get the issues here and own 3 electric vehicles. What works well on an individual small scale basis to control long term costs is not necessarily a good idea on a utility scale basis. Solar incentives (rebates, net metering, etc.) on a national and a state level have lead us to this place. We now need to pay for those choices.

Economics 101, making choices always involves repercussions about costs.

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