Like most Americans this month, your most recent power bill may have given you a shock. Residential electricity rates have risen fast across the US — more than 30 percent on average since 2020 and almost double the rate of inflation in the past year — with no end in sight.

It’s not great for anyone’s budget, whether you’re a renter or an industrialist. High electricity prices ripple beyond consumers and throughout the whole economy, disrupting manufacturing, construction, transportation, and more.

And of course, electricity prices are a huge political issue. President Donald Trump campaigned on cutting energy prices in half, and now that they’re moving in the wrong direction, he has taken to blaming renewables, the cheapest sources of new generation, and promised $625 million to the ailing US coal industry. Power bills are becoming a hot button in local politics, too, like the New Jersey governor’s race, and you’ll likely see them featured in more political ads.

Given how fast and how high electricity prices have jumped, just how worried should we be? Is this a crisis, something that’s going to put more households in danger of getting their power shut off while driving up inflation and slowing growth? Or is this a return to normal after an era of unusually low prices?

There are several dynamics driving the

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