Energy secretary predicts that electricity prices will stop rising ‘very soon’

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Energy Secretary Chris Wright expressed optimism that electricity prices will eventually come down.

“Very soon, you’ll see a stop of the rise of electricity prices. And with the continuation of [the Trump administration’s] policies of energy addition, you will see declines in electricity prices later this term,” Wright told host Jacqui Heinrich on “Fox News Sunday.”

As of September, electricity prices were up 5.1 percent relative to 12 months prior, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In January, electricity prices were up 1.9 percent from the previous year.

Overall inflation in September hit 3 percent, the same as in January, according to the BLS.

The increase in electricity prices peaked at 15.8 percent in August 2022 amid global energy shortages stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier that year. Increases in electricity demand, particularly during extreme weather events, also drive up utility bills nationwide.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), a semi-independent division of the Department of Energy (DOE), projects that next year, residential electricity prices will be up as much as 18 percent relative to 2022.

The price of other utilities, such as natural gas, regular gasoline and heating oil, is expected to be 1 percent higher, 23 percent lower, and 32 percent lower next year relative to 2022, respectively, the EIA notes.

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