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Higher energy costs factor heavily in Americans’ concerns about the economy. President Donald Trump says he has a plan to lower them, by increasing fossil fuel production, cutting back on subsidies to green energy and requiring tech companies to provide their own power. 
Energy prices are up. Electricity costs rose 7% in the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
Americans are feeling the pinch. 
Experts say its a matter of supply and demand.  
“For a long time, the total energy consumption in the U.S. remained reasonably flat,” said Harish Krishnamoorthy, an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston. 
“But recently, we have data centers and tremendous industrialization.”
Krishnamoorthy said the increased demand is driving up consumer’s electric bills. And extra energy has to come from somewhere. 
In 2025, three-quarters of U.S. electricity came from natural gas, coal and nuclear power, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Eighteen percent came from wind and solar power. 
 
But solar remains the fastest growing energy source, even as the president pushes fossil fuels of over renewables. 
Trump has declared a national energy emergency, rolling back environmental regulations and directing federal resources toward increasing energy production. 
But the administration’s policies don’t apply equally to all types of energy. During a Cabinet meeting in August, Trump praised fossil fuels and nuclear power while saying, “We don’t allow windmills, and we don’t want the solar panels.” 
Krishnamoorthy said there may be “some concern because we cannot probably have offshore wind turbines.” But, he added, so far there has been little pushback against solar development.  
In his State of the Union address Tuesday, the president announced a plan to transfer some of the burden of energy generation to tech companies. The details of that plan are not yet clear, but some companies are already looking into generating and storing their own energy — green energy. 
Krishnamoorthy said many of these companies want to be self-sufficient. 
“Solar panels, wind turbines, these are definitely high up in contention," he said.
Over time, federal policy changes may not be the biggest factor in shaping our energy future. Rather, it may again be the market, adjusted by carrots and sticks from Washington, as well as state and local governments.  
“Companies are slowly learning to, kind of, adapt to the realities of geopolitics,” Krishnamoorthy said. 

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