FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14th, 2026
CPI: Electricity Price Inflation Soars at Greater than Twice that of Food and Shelter Inflation – Driven by Electricity Transmission Costs
As the Trump administration announces major efforts to address the nation’s growing affordability crisis, the latest CPI numbers illustrates that electricity price inflation continues to be one of the top drivers of costs harming American consumers.
Electricity prices continue to escalate, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report. The latest data shows that December electricity prices increased by 6.7% on an annualized basis as compared to 2.7% for the overall CPI, demonstrating that electricity price inflation is 148% greater than the CPI on an annualized basis.
In a statement, Paul Cicio, Chair of the Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition stated “FERC needs to enforce Order 1000 to tackle skyrocketing electricity transmission costs. FERC Order 1000 requires that utilities compete to build regionally planned transmission projects, which drives down costs. Only about 5 percent of all transmission projects are competitively bid. Without competition there is no incentive for a monopoly utility to reduce their costs. Transmission competition has been shown to reduce costs by as much as 40%.”
See examples of projects that were competitively bid and the cost savings, as well as projects that were not subject to competition and the cost overruns:
About the Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition
The Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition (ETCC) is a broad-based, nation-wide coalition committed to increasing competition in America’s electricity transmission infrastructure. We advocate for common-sense policies and solutions that result in competitively priced transmission projects, which reduce energy costs for all ratepayers – from large manufacturers to residential consumers. The ETCC represents a diverse group of 95 companies and organizations from all 50 states, including manufacturing groups, retail electric consumers, state consumer advocates, public power representatives, think tanks, and non-incumbent transmission developers.
For more information, visit: www.electricitytransmissioncompetitioncoalition.org.
Press Contact:
Julian Graham
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