Your electricity bill might be more expensive this summer. Here’s what to know

As natural gas costs continue to rise significantly, customers need to prepare for higher prices on their electricity bills this summer, a U.S. agency says.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration shared its latest forecast for summer 2022 and warned customers of a spike in electricity prices in the upcoming months.

Residential electricity prices in the United States are expected to increase by 3.9% between June and August compared with the same months last year, the report stated.

The news comes as many households already wrestle with higher prices on many other products and services because of inflation.

Though the agency predicts higher prices, it added that a “lower-than-average electricity use compared with last summer may, in some cases, offset the effect of higher prices on some household electricity bills.”

Despite the rise in prices, the EIA estimates that, on average, U.S. households will spend 0.9% more on electricity — which could end up being less than $10 more than last year.

How much more expensive your bills will ultimately depend on your consumption, but it also varies by region. While prices might rise by about 1% in the West South Central region (which comprises Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas), the agency expects prices to rise by 16% in New England.

A New England household could expect to spend almost $50 more this summer than they did last year, according to the report.

The demand of electricity affects prices, the report explained, especially during the summer months as demand is at its highest. The main drivers of electricity demand during the summer are temperature and humidity levels, the agency says, with about 90% of U.S. households using some kind of air conditioning.

“On especially hot summer days with high air-conditioning load, the electric power sector may need to run its most expensive units to fulfill peak hourly load,” the agency said in its report.

In the last year and a half, the agency said natural gas prices in the U.S. have been rising significantly, and there is no sign that that pattern is changing anytime soon.

The EIA said electricity consumption patterns changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. As more people worked from home, “residential electricity consumption in the summer of 2020 was 7.9% higher than the summer of 2019, which was the fastest summer-over-summer growth since 2010.”

Now, electricity consumption has been returning to pre-pandemic levels as stay-at-home orders have relaxed and workers return to the office, according to the report.

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