Electricity rates are largely driven by the choices of the party that controls its state’s politics, according to a joint analysis of federal data.
The report by the Institute for Energy Research and Always On Energy Research asserts that rates in predominantly Democratic states, which favor climate-related policies are often above the national average.
Rates in Republican-leaning states, on the other hand, which prioritize system reliability and consumer prices, tend to have below-average rates.
It’s a matter of priorities said Isaac Orr, co-founder and vice president of research at Always On Energy Research, a non-profit group based in Denver. “Affordability is largely a result of state energy policies,” he said.
The research, promoted August 12, is titled “Blue States, High Rates. Electricity Prices: Elections Have Consequences.”
The findings are rooted in rate data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration from January through August 2025.
“While there are many factors that influence electricity rates, the one constant we see is that states that have pursued climate or net-zero policies above all else have some of the highest rates in the country,” said Tom Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research.
The report emerges as affordability, emphasizing inflation and consumer pocketbook issues, has become a salient issue in the upcoming mid-term elections.
The report asserts that electricity prices are high in states that are “reliably blue, having voted for the Democratic nominee for president in the 2020 and 2024 elections.”
“In contrast, 80% of the 10 states with the lowest electricity prices are reliably red, defined as having voted for the Republican candidate in these contests,” the report says.
Pennsylvania, widely considered a swing state, or “battleground” state, is labelled as “purple” in the report, as its voters and control of the policymaking machinery are traditionally more closely balanced, or more-narrowly divided, between the two major parties.
The national average price for electricity is cited as 13.54 cents per kilowatt hour, with the price in Pennsylvania hovering just above the average at 13.8 cents per kilowatt hour.
Pennsylvania is among six states identified as “purple.” Others include Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. And their rates, too, are, generally clustered near the national average. A purple state in the report is one that voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and Donald Trump in 2024.
Orr said these rates in the “purple” states support his contention that politics influence the price of electricity. “It probably just reflects the fact that they have to compromise on these policies a lot of times,” he said.
Pennsylvania rates are ranked 16th down the national list. It’s the largest electricity exporter in the U.S. and the second-largest natural gas-producing state. Its energy supply is bolstered by in-state Marcellus Shale natural gas reserves, with production four times in-state consumption.
The state also has a large (9.6 gigawatt) fleet of eight nuclear reactors, including the Peach Bottom, Susquehanna, Limerick, and Beaver Valley plants.
Pennsylvania has “no true” Renewable Portfolio Standard, the report said, and its Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, adopted in 2004, has plateaued at 18 percent of electricity sold to retail customers.
In addition, Pennsylvania has no carbon price. The November 2025 Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) repeal removed the principal regulatory drag on new gas-plant investment, but Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed replacement, a state-specific cap-and-invest program, would reintroduce the same costs to ratepayers, the report said.
The report also highlights, for example, the Democratic strongholds of California and New York as examples of the states with the highest rates.
California rates, at 27.05 cents per kilowatt hour, are double the national average. The state has adopted a carbon dioxide reduction mandate, renewable mandates, net metering, the closure of nuclear reactors, and electric vehicle charging subsidies.
New York at 21.45 cents per kilowatt hour, is 58% higher than the national average. The state “has experienced some of the fastest increases in electricity prices in the country,” the report says.
New York law includes a “massive renewable energy mandate,” which will require ratepayer-funded investments.
Restrictions on natural gas resources and the closure of the Indian Point nuclear plant tighten the supply of energy in New York while mandates around the electrification of buildings and transportation increase the demand.
On the lower end of the rate spectrum, the report highlights, for example, the two red states of Florida and Louisiana.
Florida is the second largest power producer in the U.S., and despite a huge population and a commensurate air conditioning load, Florida’s rates are 2% below the average at 13.27 cents per kilowatt hour. The state’s power production is 75% natural gas.
Louisiana, at 9.5 cents per kilowatt hour, had the third-lowest rates in the U.S., with 73% of its power generated by natural gas and 16% nuclear.
“Americans pay dramatically different electric bills depending on which party controls their state capitol,” the report concluded. “High electricity prices are not an inevitability; they are a choice. And in state after state, they are a choice made by left-wing policymakers who have prioritized climate symbolism over working families’ budgets.”