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State-level policies play a significant role in electricity costs, and states led by Democrats tend to have higher power prices than those governed by Republicans, according to a new report from the Institute for Energy Research (IER).
The report, titled “Blue States, High Rates. Electricity Prices: Elections Have Consequences,” was first shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. It found that electricity prices are generally higher in states with Democratic leadership, based on average cost per kilowatt-hour.
It comes as Democrats are attempting to campaign ahead of the 2026 midterms by making “affordability” an issue for working-class Americans.
According to the analysis, nine of the 10 states with the highest electricity rates are governed by Democrats. The report attributes the higher costs to state policy decisions affecting energy production, regulation, and power supply, the outlet said, citing the data.
By contrast, the report found that states with lower electricity prices are predominantly Republican-led. According to IER, 80% of the states with the most affordable electricity rates per kilowatt-hour are governed by Republicans.
The analysis showed that 20 of the 25 states with the lowest electricity prices are classified as red states, while four are blue states and one is considered politically mixed. The report was produced in partnership with Always on Energy Research.
“This is a blue state problem,” IER President Tom Pyle told the Caller, arguing that prescribing any blame to President Donald Trump for soaring electricity costs is incorrect.
“[America needs to] put an emphasis on providing dispatchable electricity generation, namely by keeping coal plants open, even building new coal plants, nuclear and particularly natural gas. I think the administration is doing everything they can in spite of what the blue states have been doing over the years. Other words, Trump’s trying to save them from themselves,” he said.
The Institute for Energy Research said its analysis relied on data from the Energy Information Administration and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to compare electricity prices across states and assess the impact of policy decisions on energy costs.
According to the report, several states—most of which are led by Democrats—have implemented policies aimed at phasing out coal and restructuring power grids to meet specific emissions targets. The report argues that these policy choices have contributed to higher electricity costs in those states, noted the Caller.
“More than almost any other product, electricity prices are a direct result of state energy policies because states have the exclusive power to decide which resources supply their grids,” the report says. “Electricity prices are especially high in traditionally liberal areas of the country. In total, 86% of states with electricity prices above the national average in the continental U.S. are reliably blue, having voted for the Democratic nominee for president in the 2020 and 2024 elections.”
IER went on to document that the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs report confirmed that “each of the top five most expensive states for electricity have mandates requiring 100% of their power to come from renewable or carbon-free sources, making their electricity unnecessarily more expensive.”
The report identifies emissions targets, the early retirement of coal and nuclear power plants, restrictions on natural gas development, and policies such as net metering requirements as factors that have contributed to higher electricity prices.
Affordability has emerged as a central theme in recent Democratic political messaging and was a prominent issue in the November gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia. The IER report notes that electricity prices tend to be higher in states led by Democrats, which it says reflects the impact of those states’ energy policy choices, the Caller says, citing the data.
“Americans pay dramatically different electric bills depending on which party controls their state capitol. High electricity prices are not an inevitability; they are a choice,” the report states. “And in state after state, they are a choice made by left-wing policymakers who have prioritized climate symbolism over working families’ budgets.”
