Audrey Streb
DCNF Energy Reporter
Though the second Trump administration has pivoted from the Biden administration’s aggressive and climate-centric policies, Americans could still face a year of rising electricity costs and potential energy bottlenecks in 2026.
President Donald Trump and Congress voided several harsh Biden-era policies in 2025 that would have restricted oil and gas development and enacted a de facto national electric vehicle (EV) mandate. The Trump administration has cut billions in green energy spending, which contrasts with former President Joe Biden’s focus on expensive climate initiatives.
Additionally, the Trump administration has moved to boost conventional energy sources like coal while also looking to advance newer technologies like fusion. Though the Biden administration also moved to advance nuclear energy, it cracked down on the oil and gas sector, blocking and restricting development in areas across the U.S. and freezing liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.
The policy shift has come alongside a more “realistic” approach to the energy debate, according to Dustin Meyer, senior vice president of Policy, Economics and Regulatory Affairs at the American Petroleum Institute (API). However, the shifting energy landscape could spell bad news for the U.S. in 2026, as artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and other drivers are projected to drive demand potentially beyond America’s available supply.
“This has been a year in which the energy conversation has finally become more realistic, and I think fortunately, increasingly, we have a policy environment that reflects that,” Meyer told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “One of the key reasons why the energy conversation has become more realistic this year is because of the rise of AI and the demonstrable need for more electricity generation to meet the AI demand.” (RELATED: Republicans Erased Record Number Of Biden Regulations In 2025. Here Are The Worst Ones.)
Trump Flipped The Script
“Fixing Joe Biden’s energy crisis has been a priority for President Trump since day one, and lowering energy costs for American families and businesses will continue to be a top priority in the new year,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the DCNF.
The administration has repeatedly touted Trump’s energy policies as ushering in lower gas prices and argued that Department of Energy(DOE) efforts to keep coal plants operating past their planned decommission dates will help maintain affordability for ratepayers.
The Trump administration also spearheaded a major deregulatory effort, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announcing that his agency is targeting the 2009 Endangerment Finding, a keystone climate regulation.
While Biden moved quickly to restrict the oil and gas industry — canceling the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in the Oval Office — the Trump administration has fought to block offshore wind projects, most recently halting construction on all major projects in the U.S., citing national security concerns.
Some energy experts argue that Trump’s crackdown could finally bring Congressional Democrats to the table on deregulation. However, the administration’s recent pause on offshore wind projects has prompted some Democrats to threaten to walk away from a deal, as key permitting reform legislation hangs in the balance.
“If rising prices are the problem, we think permitting reform is a big part of the solution,” Meyer said.
Rising Electricity Costs
Meyer told the DCNF that “affordability has become the defining energy issue in American politics, and perhaps just the defining issue in American politics, and energy is just essential to doing that.”
Electricity costs are projected to keep rising in 2026, despite the administration’s efforts to deregulate and bolster traditional energy sources. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that demand from data centers and cryptocurrency mining will contribute to rising electricity costs in 2026.
The administration and some energy experts have reasoned that blue states have higher rates and that Democrat policies restricting supply may be driving cost increases.
Rogers told the DCNF that “high energy prices are a choice – blue states like California and Maine are stubbornly choosing Green Energy Scam policies that are making electricity bills unaffordable. Meanwhile, GOP-led states are successfully lowering energy costs for their residents by embracing President Trump’s commonsense ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ agenda.”
A recent analysis from the Institute for Energy Research and Always on Energy Research showed that blue states generally have higher electricity costs than red states. The report’s authors also note that several of these states with higher electricity rates also have what they term “ideological mandates” to phase out power sources like coal.
In contrast, 80% of the states with the most affordable electricity costs per kilowatt hour are “reliably red,” according to the report.
Some Democrats, some clean energy and green groups argue that it is keeping coal plants online that will drive up electricity costs. However, a July DOE grid reliability report warned that if America continues to retire reliable power without replacing it, blackouts could increase by a factor of 100 by 2030. (EXCLUSIVE: Democrats Are Behind Your Crippling Electricity Bills, Report Confirms)
Artificial Intelligence
Several high-profile Republicans and Democrats alike are striking against unbridled data center expansion headed into the 2026 midterms, citing affordability concerns, among other worries.
While Trump has embraced AI development, some prominent GOP members like Republican Florida Gov. Ron Desantis and grid experts like former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Mark Christie have argued some of the administration’s AI policies and proposals could usurp state sovereignty and hurt consumers.
“The Biden Administration launched a war on American energy that constrained power production, drove up costs, and would have ensured the United States lost the AI race,” a DOE spokesperson told the DCNF previously, arguing that Trump’s policies are key to powering America as the tech and energy landscape shifts.
Steve Milloy, senior legal fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, previously told the DCNF that “while it’s quite possible that many consumers will face high prices for less reliable power in the near-term because of tremendous data center needs and a grid that has been crippled by green policies, what we actually need are more power plants and fewer green policies.”
Meyer told the DCNF that due to climbing energy demand, “we’re going to have to move fairly quickly here [to build energy infrastructure.] The magnitude of the demand increases are significant, and this is a pretty sharp departure from some of the trends that we’ve seen over the last 20 years.”
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There seems to be a run of these posts lately. They go: Biden did hideous thimgs that put up electricity prices. Looks like they will keep going up, but that won’t be Trump’s fault. No Sir! It will be AI, or the states. One creative soul even blamed the “Washington Left”
It is going to take way more than a year to undo the untold damage done by the Otto Pen policies…
.. particularly when sensible policy is being blocked by rouge far-left judges.
AI centres and crypto-mining should have to provide their own electricity, plus some extra for the general community.
Yes it will take time, but adding to what he has done already, in a relatively swift step, it seems Trump has begun denationalizing the oil industry in Venezuela.
He sure moved fast last night in that nation. Shock and awe. 🙂
Just because a permit is issued, doesn’t mean the oil or gas will start flowing the next day. It takes time to set up the drills, do the drilling, then set up the infrastructure needed to extract the oil or gas.
Y’all think you are being ironic, but The
Green New Deal was a formula for British or
German energy prices.
Which The Green .Blob wants, but is unwilling to admit to.
Yes, trumps policies will need some real “war is peace” level propaganda in the next years to spin all of this positive.
There is also no ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’, as the OPEC started a price war under Trump, prices cratered and shale producers fight for survival. His tariffs don’t help them either.
Coal isn’t coming back. Plants only keep open with a lot of taxpayer money.
This will be interesting to watch.
USA oil and gas production are both up since the start of Trump 47. Under Joe Biden’s war on coal, maintenance of coal plants dropped, and no new plants were started. USA coal production increased in 2025. It will take time to repair the damage that Barack Obama and Joe Biden did to America’s energy industries, but the repair has started. Coal is still not price competitive with gas, so keep your eye on gas for progress (new plant construction, eg.).
It’s nice to know that if and when the price of gas rises significantly – coal is still there in the ground as a backup.
Coal doesn’t have to “come back” in the short term- it can just wait there in the ground peaceably until we need it for whatever reasons. There’s enough to last centuries.
It really is odd how the left truly believes that propaganda is truth, and truth is propaganda.
Only thing that slowed coal use in the USA , was GAS. !!
Modern coal is FAR less environmentally damaging than wind and solar, so will make a come-back over time.
Modern coal is CLEAN, RELIABLE, and CHEAP !!
Peabody Forecasts 57% US Coal Demand Surge Under Trump
Coal seller predicts more demand the for coal he sells. You are spoiling me with the finest and most unbiased sources known to man. What’s next? OPEC sees more demand for oil?
So, no counter, just blah… why is that?
I am totally sure that the producers know more about coal than you ever will.
.. or any of the “renewables” junk articles you often reference.
The use of coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is poised to surge 8 per cent this year in the US, a major shift from the average 6 per cent annual decline over the past 15 years, the International Energy Agency said in its closely watched annual coal report on Wednesday.
ps. The reason that COAL is so cheap, and reliable…
.. is because it is carbon intensive.
Oxidisation of carbon based molecules is a major source of energy for nearly every creature on the planet.
Thank you plants, for synthesising those carbon-based molecules and keeping the planet alive. 🙂
Thank you for admitting that you can’t refute any of the arguments or data presented.
“Kiddo, look in my eyes. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We’re going to end fossil fuel!” – Joe Biden
Remember that?
“[The authors] find that globally, AI data centers could need ten gigawatts (GW) of additional power capacity in 2025, which is more than the total power capacity of the state of Utah. If exponential growth in chip supply continues, AI data centers will need 68 GW in total by 2027 — almost a doubling of global data center power requirements from 2022 and close to California’s 2022 total power capacity of 86 GW.” – https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3572-1.html
Supply and demand, Mr. Stokes. Biden did his best to choke off supply and now we have above-expected demand. You can sarcasm all you like, but at least Trump is doing his best to fix the hair-sniffer’s fork-up.
And Obama promised that the end of fossil fuels would drastically raise energy costs.
The IEA estimate that USD 580bn was invested around the world in data centres in 2025 and that electricity consumption by such centres will double by 2030.
They expect data centres to account for 50% of electricity demand growth in the US by that date and note that 55% of the data centres in the pipeline are larger than 200MW and would each consume as much electricity a year as 200,000 people.
IEA ‘World Energy Outlook 2025’ (Nov. 2025)
We have rapidly increasing demand following a period of deliberately reduced reliable supply capacity. It takes time to add new capacity, so obviously prices are likely to continue rising for a while.
Destruction is always quicker than construction.
What Biden destroyed in a few years could take decades to re-build.
Blue states show no sign of changing direction. They’re sill pushing ruinables regardless of cost. So your thinking that the states are not a cause is absurd.
Here again is an illuminating graph made by Mark BLR here. It is red states that are implementing wind and solar, and they are not raising costs. They just work.
All of them keeping unreliables below 15% while maintaining their dispatchable supplies…
… so their parasitic effect doesn’t cause too much price increase.
Not true. I have marked the 15% level with a green line. Iowa is at 63%.
Did you know that Iowa IMPORTED some $2.3 billion worth of electricity in 2024, mainly from Canadian hydro.
Another switcheroo. From the EIA:
“Since 2008, Iowa has generated more electricity each year than the state consumed, and the excess power was sent to other states over the regional electric grid. Iowa ranks in the top 10 states in total electricity sales per capita.”
The fact that wind/solar cause electricity prices to rise has been well documented for years.
The fact that EVs are more expensive to own and operate than similar ICE vehicles is also well documented.
They are more expensive to buy, but cheaper to operate. Lifetime costs are lower than ICE vehicles.
Except they have near zero value after 5 or 6 years. !
And with all the new road charges, your comment is just plane WRONG.
Real world data refutes your religious convictions.
When you eliminate the subsidies for EVs and the extra taxes that ICE vehicles pay, then electricity works out to be more per mile than is gas, and much more per mile than diesel.
Replacing a battery cost several times more than replacing an engine, and the engine will last several times longer than the battery.
“The fact that wind/solar cause electricity prices to rise has been well documented for years.”
Here is my version of Mark BLR’s graph above, of state wind generation fractions vs residential price. Red states with much wind have very modest prices.
Story tip: https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/smrs-explained-real-world-economics-fuel-bottlenecks-race-scale
The disastrous, and frankly traitorous energy policies of the Obama and Biden years are 100% to blame for the state our electric grid is in. Trump can’t undo that damage by snapping his fingers. But he can, (and is), turn things around. Bring back coal, encourage NG and oil production, as well as nuclear. That is what is needed to fix things. But there will be the stranded costs, borne in part by ratepayers of the Retardables – wind and solar. AI is getting some of the blame because the timing is bad. Had the disastrous energy policies of Obama abd Biden not occurred, then it wouldn’t be an issue.
“freezing liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.”
Was that Biden or the autopen? Recall that when questioned on the matter, he could not remember doing so.
“Americans could still face a year of rising electricity costs and potential energy bottlenecks in 2026”
For sure here in Wokeachusetts. Trump can stop the development of wind “farms” off the coast which is the preferred objective of the state after finding out people don’t like wind farms or wind turbines on land- so, they’ll just ignore that fact and get back to clearing forests and prime farmland (the only farmland left) for solar “farms”.
AI does not have to be the cause of increased electricity. There are ways to give them all the electricity they need ~ but they have to build their own Community Power Plants. These community power plants can be coal or natural gas.
No electricity will come from the national grid to feed these Data Centers. We also need the EPA to make them run these power plants at over 90% energy efficiency. With today’s technology, that is so possible. These Community Power Plants will provide to the AI Data Centers all the electricity they will ever need, and the combusted exhaust from the power plants can also be recovered and utilized to create a few more hundred full time good paying jobs.
Waste Is Not waste If It Has A Purpose. This has to be the way for it to be done right!
I struggle with the notion that we tax payers and rate payers are helpless spectators who must sit on the sidelines and accept what comes our way. Green states interfering with the smooth operation of the grid should be made to live with their choices. If they choose green power only then no energy other than green power should be imported into their state. If they choose to live with less power, unreliable power that is their business. There is no reason the rest of us should help them be stupid. It is true AI requires a lot of power it is not true that the rest of us should meekly sit on the sidelines and allow them to take our power. I don’t trust AI but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t move forward with it. Since AI will require vastly more than is currently available they need to finance new fossil fuel and nuclear plants.