Washington, DC, June 10, 2026 — Today’s inflation report confirmed that the affordability crisis afflicting Americans has deepened with electricity prices climbing a further 0.6% on a monthly basis, and 5.9% on an annualized basis. These price increases dwarfed the rise in the general price level as measured by the CPI of 0.5% and 4.2% for monthly and annualized gains respectively.

In a statement Paul Cicio, Chair of the Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition pointed to the inflation numbers as further evidence that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should reject a self-serving request by nine monopoly utilities that would prohibit utilities from competing with one another to build billion-dollar transmission lines in 19 SPP and MISO states. “The requested moratorium would result in higher electricity prices for decades to come. Competition has been proven to reduce transmission costs and deliver projects on time more often than incumbent monopoly projects. It defies economic sense to consider suspending a proven common-sense mechanism for lowering electricity costs in the middle of an affordability crisis.”