(Bloomberg) —
As weekend temperatures plummeted below freezing across the US, 27-year-old Jahdaya Francis turned off the radiators in her Yonkers, New York apartment and huddled around a small space heater. A few states away, in Prince George, Virginia, 36-year-old Samantha Smith shut off the electricity to half of the home she shares with her young daughter.
“I’m sleeping in the living room with a heated blanket on my loveseat, wearing sweatpants, socks, a long T-shirt and a North Face jacket,” Smith said. “But it’s not very warm.”
Neither woman can afford to crank up the thermostat. Francis’s December heating bill topped $500 while Smith’s power costs surged above $600 — two to three times what they paid in the summer.
The deep freeze gripping much of the US is colliding with some of the highest energy costs in years — further straining households already squeezed by stubbornly high food and housing prices.
Consumer prices for electricity and piped gas rose 7.7% in December from a year earlier, almost three times the pace of overall inflation.
In some parts of the country, power prices have hit all-time highs, fueled by the massive buildout of artificial intelligence data centers that are driving demand to unprecedented levels. Those skyrocketing costs have emerged as a top campaign issue in the upcoming midterm elections, even prompting President Donald Trump and a host of governors to demand changes to the biggest US power grid.
“It’s cold, and bills are going up,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.
US home heating costs are set to climb 9.2% this winter, spurred by higher gas and electricity prices and below-average temperatures, according to calculations from Washington-based NEADA. The average household will spend $995 on heating this winter, the group projected, up from $911 last year.
“It’s putting more pressure on family budgets,” said Wolfe. “People are very aware of their utility bills now.”
Higher energy bills could drive American families to cut back on spending elsewhere.
Data out in January showed US consumers continued to reliably spend in November, but a drop in the savings rate — now at a three-year low — suggested many Americans were already stretching to do so. With consumer spending growth outpacing income gains, some economists worry about the sustainability of robust household demand.
Winter power prices stand to be even higher for communities near data centers, where wholesale electricity prices have surged as much 267% over five years, according to a Bloomberg News investigation.
Smith’s home is ground zero in the nation’s affordability crunch. Virginia is home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers and Prince George, which is served by the biggest US power grid, has seen electricity prices surge along with AI demand. Power prices in Virginia rose 16.5% last year through October, according to the NEADA.
PJM Interconnection LLC, which operates the 13-state grid that serves Prince George, has become a flashpoint in the national debate after three consecutive auctions to secure power supplies reached record costs. Residents including Smith would have seen those costs reflected in their monthly bills starting in June.
At the same time, higher rates from her utility, Dominion Energy Inc., mean the typical residential customer will see bills increase by $11.24 this year, and $2.36 in 2027.
To cope with cold from the winter storms, Smith has insulated all of her windows with plastic sheets sealed with a blow dryer, and layered all of her doors with blankets to stop drafts. To help make ends meet, she’s taken on cleaning work in addition to her full-time job in a restaurant. Despite her efforts to cut back on utilities, though, she now owes Dominion Energy Inc. more than $1000 that she can’t pay.
“I’m doing everything I can, and it’s still not enough,” she said.
Meanwhile, in New York, regulators have moved to protect customers from surging utility bills, last week capping Consolidated Edison Inc.’s annual revenue increases at 2.8%.
But that’s cold comfort for Francis, whose winter heating bill is largely determined by the cost of transporting natural gas into the Northeast, where a dearth of pipelines leaves the region vulnerable to price spikes. Over the last week of January, natural gas prices climbed to their highest level in three years.
For Francis, that jump translates to even higher heating costs — if she chooses to turn on the radiators. “Honestly,” she said, “I’m just going to have my one Dyson heater and keep that on.”
To contact the authors of this story:
Julia Fanzeres in New York at jfanzeres@bloomberg.net
Will Wade in New York at wwade4@bloomberg.net
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
