U.S. Electricity Prices Keep Rising

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THE TOP FIVE

1. U.S. electricity prices keep steadily rising

Electricity prices went up again last month, but as Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo reported this morning, it’s not because of the Iran War. The latest spike, which appears in a data update released this morning in Heatmap and MIT’s Electricity Price Hub, shows that prices were 6.7% higher, on average, than the same month the previous year. The 12-month trailing average, a measure that smooths out seasonal fluctuations in rates, was up 6.5% from a year ago.

While both of these stats represent new peaks — as is almost always the case with electricity prices over time — the overall growth in prices in April was not unusual, Emily wrote. “National average electricity prices have been increasing at a similar rate this year as they have during the past five years, with the exception of 2022, when there was a significant spike in the cost of natural gas. Natural gas plants generate the largest proportion of U.S. power, and the cost of the fuel has an outsized influence on our electricity prices.”

But some places, such as New Jersey and Washington, D.C., saw 21% and 25% increases, respectively, in their 12-month trailing averages due to strained dynamics in PJM, the electricity market they are part of, where power demand is outstripping supply. But Emily writes that: “The new April data also shows how sometimes electricity prices undergo big fluctuations for more arbitrary, and ultimately temporary reasons.” For example, some states such as California and Massachusetts issued dividends or rebates that reduced bills during hotter months when electricity costs typically rise.

See the data for yourself here..

2. A record number of data center projects were just canceled amid political pushback

We all know that the backlash to data centers is mounting. As I reported for Heatmap in February, the proportion of voters who strongly oppose developing server farms grew by an eye-popping 50% in just a few months. Now Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer has some exclusive data via our intelligence platform Heatmap Pro that really puts a fine point on how effective that political pushback has become. At least 20 proposed data centers were canceled amid local pushback during the first three months of 2026, smashing a record set only in the previous quarter. “The cancellations,” Rob wrote, “reveal the rapidly expanding backlash to data center construction has not yet peaked.” About 100 new data center fights were also added to Heatmap Pro’s database during the first quarter, another new record.

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It’s no wonder why. Even the data centers owned by the richest man in the world aren’t fulfilling basic promises made to voters about the sustainability of the projects. Elon Musk pledged two years ago to build a state-of-the-art water recycling plant in Memphis, Tennessee, to guarantee that his xAI servers wouldn’t deplete the city’s groundwater. Now that Musk’s first data center dedicated to his AI chatbot is up and running, construction on the recycling facility has come to an abrupt halt.

3. China installs the world’s largest single-unit floating wind turbine platform

Add this to the list of achievements for China’s booming offshore wind industry. China Three Gorges Corporation announced that it has completed the installation of a 16-megawatt floating offshore wind turbine off the coast of Guangdong province, in what offshoreWIND.biz described as “the world’s largest single-unit floating wind turbine platform.” The pilot project is located in waters nearly 44 miles offshore at depths of close to 165 feet. The developer called the installation a milestone toward deep-sea floating wind technology that could harness stronger air flows and expand the footprint of offshore wind into areas of the Pacific coastline where the continental shelf drops off steeply and close to shore. As in sectors such as solar panels and batteries, the floating wind industry is driven by fierce internal competition in China.

In the U.S., meanwhile, the developer that had planned to build the nation’s first floating offshore wind farm off central California just took a payout from the Trump administration in exchange for abandoning its federal lease. Golden State Wind was among two companies that followed French energy giant TotalEnergies in taking refunds from the Department of the Interior while promising to halt all offshore wind development in the future, as I wrote last month. And as I told you on Tuesday, California regulators are now investigating the developer.

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4. The TVA is generating even more power from nuclear energy

As the nation’s largest federally owned utility, the Tennessee Valley Authority is, in many ways, the closest thing the U.S. has to one of the giant state companies that handle nuclear construction in countries with major atomic energy sectors such as France, South Korea, or Japan. The TVA has recently refashioned itself as a testing ground for new American reactor technologies. The world’s second BWRX-300, the 300-megawatt boiling water reactor from GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, is set to be built at the TVA’s Clinch River site. The first power purchase agreement between a next-generation reactor developer and a U.S. utility was Kairos Power’s Google-backed deal to sell electricity from its first commercial molten salt reactor to the TVA. The White House is even giving the TVA an early look at new rules coming out of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. So it’s fitting that now the TVA is generating far more electricity from nuclear energy than this time last year. The utility’s nuclear fleet supplied 41% of its power in the first half of this year, compared to 31% in the same six-month window of 2025, Utility Dive reported. The milestone comes as Mike Skaggs, the TVA’s interim chief executive since CEO Don Moul announced his retirement last month, names nuclear as a top priority.

5. Bill Gates-backed fusion startup makes plans for its first British plant

Type One Energy, a U.S.-based fusion company backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, has made a deal to develop its first commercial power plant in the United Kingdom within a decade. The consortium includes the U.S. engineering firm Aecom and the British fusion supplier Tokamak Energy. Type One is already in “very early conversations with several potential customers,” CEO Chris Mowry told the Financial Times. The move comes just weeks after Gates’ fission company, TerraPower, began construction on its first plant in Wyoming, as I wrote last month.

Meanwhile, another clean energy venture in the U.K. is going under. Morrow Batteries, a lithium-ion manufacturer in Europe, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday. “It’s a tough outcome after years of building with over €400 million invested, strong technology, real products in the field, and an outstanding team that stands together through tremendous challenges,” CEO Jon Fold von Bülow wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “I firmly believe this is not the end.” He said he’s hoping to sell to a buyer who will take the technology forward.

THE KICKER

Everything is bigger in Texas. John Bistline

I’ll let this chart from the sustainability research service Watershed speak for itself. As Watershed’s head of science John Bistline put it on X: “Texas just passed California in utility-scale solar. And it's not close in wind or energy storage.”