Texans aren't only getting hit at the pump. Things are also heating up at home because compared to last year, electricity bills are also way up.
According to the state’s Power to Choose website (via The Dallas Morning News), the average residential rate in Texas for June 2022 is 18.48 cents per kilowatt hour. Compared to June 2021, that's a 10.5-cent increase.
That means a nearly $80 monthly increase for a household using 1,000 kWh of electricity. If the average rate holds, that increase adds up to close to an additional $1,000 for the year.
Miami is the only American city that is experiencing higher electricity inflation. The Dallas Morning News notes that this appears to be the highest average rate since Texas deregulated electricity.
"We’ve never seen prices this high,” Tim Morstad, associate state director for AARP Texas, said. “There’s going to be some real sticker shock here.”
In decades past, cheap electricity was funded by cheap natural gas. Forty-four percent of the state's power plants on the ERCOT grid are powered by natural gas, but higher natural gas prices mean higher electricity bills.
If projections are correct, natural gas prices could go even higher.
But this year, wind and solar are a combined 38% of generated power on ERCOT, helping to reduce the amount of pricier natural gas-generated energy. Still, it’s not enough.
“Texas has this whole mythology around cheap gas and prosperity, and those days are clearly over,” energy consultant Alison Silverstein told The Dallas Morning News. “We’re in trouble as consumers. The most effective thing we can do is try to use less electricity."
“Turn up the thermostat on the air conditioner, crank up a fan and drink lots of water,” she added. “We don’t have a lot of other choices.”
