Surging electricity costs pose another financial threat to American households
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High inflation may finally be starting to cool, but rising electricity prices are keeping the financial pressure on millions of U.S. households nationwide.
The cost of electricity rose 0.1% in July from the previous month and remains up 4.9% from the same time last year, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. That is notably faster than the 2.9% headline inflation gain recorded last month.
Nationwide, average household electricity prices surged nearly 22% between 2018 and 2023, according to a recent report from S&P Global.
The problem may soon get worse.
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Prices «are going to continue to escalate at a faster and faster pace,» Paul Cicio, chair of the Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition, told FOX Business.
High voltage power lines run along the electrical power grid on May 16, 2024, in Pembroke Pines, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Transmission costs are the primary driver of higher power bills, according to Cicio. That's because rules from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have allowed «tens of billions of dollars» in large transmission lines each year to be built without requiring that companies bid competitively for the work, which would reduce costs for consumers.
Transmission wires are specialized cables or other lines that conduct electromagnetic waves.
Cicio estimated that competitively bid projects reduce costs by anywhere between 25% to 30%, because they provide legally binding cost caps and other accountability measures.
«The high costs that we've been
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