Upgrades to aging utility equipment and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have combined to drive up electricity costs across the country, with the national average increasing from one year to the next.
As a New York Times business reporter, I have been looking into the impact of the rising costs of electricity on consumer bills. With my colleague Madeleine Ngo, I recently examined how higher rates have strained the budgets of low-income consumers — many of whom cannot afford clean energy technologies like solar panels and electric vehicles.
We are planning more stories about the rising cost of energy and how it’s affecting people around the country. How expensive has it become to keep the lights on? What impact are electricity rates having on household budgets? What steps are people taking to lower their bills?
And we need your help. Electric bills show exactly what consumers pay for electricity. If you have an electric bill that surprised you, we’d love to review it. I will read every response to this questionnaire, and may contact you to learn more about your story and possibly include it in an upcoming article. I won’t publish any part of your response without speaking to you first. I won’t share your contact information outside the Times newsroom and won’t use it for any purpose other than to reach back out to you.