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Data from Heatmap and MIT’s Electricity Price Hub reveals Tampa Electric customers used 14% less electricity in July 2025 than the same month in 2020, but rates rose 84% over the same period. The Energy Information Agency reported that one in four Americans experienced energy insecurity in 2020, rising to one-third by 2024, and two-thirds for households with incomes below $10,000. Over this same period, 98% of the more than 400 utilities in the Heatmap-MIT dataset increased their rates, even as usage in their service areas decreased.

Rising Electricity Rates Outpace Decreased Consumption in the US

Data from the Electricity Price Hub of Heatmap and MIT reveals that despite Tampa Electric customers utilising 14% less electricity in July 2025 than in July 2020, they are still paying more. Tampa Electric has raised its rates by 84% during this period, which translates to an increase in the average bill from $111 to $190 per month.

Usage has dropped as rates rose in several places across the US, but this does not necessarily mean that people were rationing their electricity. Variations in climatic conditions such as unusually cool summers can bring down summer bills, and changes in residential consumption can also be attributed to energy efficiency upgrades. Southern California Edison customers used 24% less electricity in 2025 than they did in 2020, in part due to the widespread adoption of rooftop solar.

The Energy Information Agency’s recent initiatives to track energy insecurity and utility disconnections have allowed us to differentiate between deficiency and efficiency. Cross-referencing data from the Electricity Price Hub reveals that there are a few places like Tampa where people seem to have reduced their electricity usage because they could not afford the additional cost, especially during a deadly heatwave.

According to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey from the EIA, one in four Americans reported some form of energy insecurity in 2020. This figure rose to a third by 2024, and two-thirds of households with incomes under $10,000. In 2024 alone, utilities sent 94.9 million final shutoff notices to residential electricity customers.

Since 2020, more than half of the over 400 utilities in the Heatmap-MIT dataset have increased their rates by more than 20%; roughly one in 10 utilities has raised their rates by 50% or more. Even as customers used less electricity, 219 of these utilities raised rates, leading to customers paying more.

The increased rates have hit hardest those who were already struggling the most. For example, about 30% of Kentucky residents reported going without heat or AC, leaving their homes at unsafe temperatures, or cutting back on food or medicine to pay energy bills, per the EIA’s 2020 RECS report. Since then, Kentucky Power has raised rates in the eastern part of the state by 45%, adding about $64 to the average monthly bill in a service area where the median monthly household income can be less than $4,000.

In places with extreme climates, such as Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, where turning off the AC in the middle of summer could mean death, the pattern is stark. Despite astronomically high electricity prices, usage hasn’t fluctuated much because customers are already using as little as they can afford. The elderly and other individuals living on fixed incomes are often unable to cut their electricity usage beyond what little they’re already using.

In middle-income states like Florida, roughly 60% of utilities show rising bills and falling electricity use. Families with household incomes over $100,000 have started worrying about their bills, with 74% of respondents in the Ipsos and PowerLines survey saying they are worried about their utility bills increasing.

However, data also shows positive cases of efficiency upgrades lowering electricity use. For instance, in the LA Department of Water and Power service area in California, usage has fallen more than 11% overall between 2020 and 2025, one of the largest drops in our dataset. Despite these efforts, households that have reduced their electricity use still saw their bills rise by an average of $20 a month.

Heatmap and MIT’s numbers show that 79% of utilities raised rates in 2025, and 55% have raised them again this year. As the relentless upward trajectory continues, it remains to be seen how utilities and consumers will adapt to these changes.

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