During his 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump repeatedly promised that if voters returned him to the White House, his policies would quickly slash everyone’s energy bills in half. A new congressional report, however, finds that the average American family is paying more in electricity costs than before Trump’s second presidential term.

In a report released on March 17, the minority staff of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee says that the average American household’s total annual electric bill rose by $110 between 2024 and 2025, a 6.4 percent increase.

Offering few specifics as to how, Trump told the Economic Club of New York in September 2024: “My plan will cut energy prices in half or more than that within 12 months of taking office. It will be an economic revival of our country like no one has ever seen before. Energy was what caused our problem initially. Energy is going to bring us back. That means we’re going down and getting gasoline below $2.00 a gallon, bring down the price of everything from electricity rates to groceries, airfares, and housing costs.”

Under President Joe Biden, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, both of which included significant federal investments in clean energy infrastructure. The Inflation Reduction Act included billions of dollars in tax credits to lower clean energy costs for consumers and help make their homes more energy-efficient.

Since taking office, Trump has worked to undo as many of those provisions as possible, halting solar and wind energy projects, canceling $8 billion in clean energy projects, and repealing much of the unspent Inflation Reduction Act money for clean energy.

At the same time, Trump’s tariffs on imported goods, grid damage spurred by climate change, and increased power demands from data centers have made electricity more expensive.

“American families don’t need a report to tell them that the President has broken his campaign promise to slash energy costs; they already feel the impact of President Trump’s actions every single day. But this report is yet another indication that sky-high costs are continuing to rise – and are continuing to hurt American families,” said the Joint Economic Committee’s ranking member, New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, in a statement.

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

In Virginia, for example, families saw their electricity bills increase 9.5 percent, paying $170 more in 2025.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, average national gasoline prices have not dropped below $2.00 in any week since Trump returned to the White House. The lowest price was $2.779 in January.

According to American Automobile Association data, the average cost of a gallon of regular gas in Virginia rose from $2.823 a month ago to $3.634 following Trump’s launch of military strikes on Iran.

Reprinted with permission from The American Independent