For the third time in ten years, Texas power plants completely failed, leaving millions of residents without electricity in the middle of a freezing winter storm. Wholesale electricity prices went up nearly 7,400%, and without regulatory safeguards in place, some of those eye watering costs passed directly to consumers.
Residential utility prices may rise as economies shift from fossil fuel-based energy production to green energy production over the next few decades. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), carbon taxes designed to offset the effects of climate change will likely trickle down to consumers, pushing household bills up 43% by 2030.
Utility bills increase for many reasons—and some of them are easy to fix. If you’ve run through more kilowatt hours lately, check your insulation, change your light bulbs and vanquish energy vampires in your home.
In short, no, utility companies can’t charge any price they want. They have to justify generation and distribution rates—and they do this via a process called ratemaking.