Record fuel prices tied to the Iran war and global refinery outages dominate the run-up to the November midterms, but soaring utility bills and the data center boom could also tip the balance of power in many states and in Congress. PowerLines’ Charles Hua said electricity bills are now a major source of frustration for consumers, unlike gasoline costs, which have traditionally mattered mainly at the pump. US electricity prices have risen roughly 40% on average over the past five years, and utilities have requested $23.1 billion in rate increases through the first three quarters of 2026, on track to match the nearly $31 billion record set in 2025. Investor-owned utilities have raised capital expenditure plans by more than 27% to at least $1.4 trillion through 2030, much of it for new generation partly to power AI data centers. On the fuel side, heating oil rose 74% year on year in September, while regular gasoline averaged $4.33 a gallon, up 42%.
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