Cooling costs are projected to reach record highs this summer amid rising electricity prices and hotter weather.
A new analysis from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association estimates that Americans will spend an average of nearly $800 on electricity between June and September, up 10.5% from the same period last year.
“Electricity prices continue to rise, and hotter summers mean households need to use more electricity simply to stay safe,” Mark Wolfe, executive director of NEADA, said in a statement. “The result is that Americans are paying substantially more to cool their homes than they were just a few years ago.”
Electricity prices are rising as energy demand grows and utilities and states invest more in updating the nation’s aging power grid, including building thousands of new data centers needed to power AI services.
From 2019 to 2024, the national average monthly electric bill rose about 23%, a separate analysis of federal data by nonprofit consumer education organization PowerLines.
How much will you pay based on where you live?
NEADA’s analysis also examined how much Americans will pay from June to September, depending on where they live. The state-level estimates are based on electricity data from the Energy Information Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s regional temperature forecast.
Arizona residents will likely face the steepest electricity costs this summer, with NEADA projecting that households in the state will spend $ 1,060, up nearly 14% from last year. That’s followed by Connecticut, where the group estimates residents will spend $944, up roughly 11% from the summer months in 2025. Washington and North Dakota are projected to see the lowest power bills at $488, NEADA found.
Americans are facing higher utility costs at a time when they are already struggling to stay afloat financially. Roughly half of Americans feel they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, according to a recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Part of the pain is due to rising costs amid inflation at its highest level in years. One in six U.S. households is behind on its utility bills, according to NEADA.
