It’s no secret that utility bills have risen sharply across the U.S. While power demand for AI and data centers is making headlines, the average cost increase for gas service is actually outpacing the rise in electricity costs. In fact, in 2025 alone, household gas bills rose 60% faster than electric bills and four times greater than inflation.
But state regulators and policymakers – if they choose to act – have real options that could reduce gas and electric bills as soon as this year.
Stop charging us for freebies to building developers
One sensible tool states could implement today: stop forcing existing utility customers to pay the hidden costs of giving free gas pipe connections to new building developers.
Across the United States, removing these charges could save utility customers an estimated $2 to $7 billion annually. Seeing the opportunity to correct these outdated provisions, at least 8 states have started the process of cutting these programs to reduce bills for their ratepayers.
Unfortunately, these efforts are experiencing needless delays.
For example, in June 2025, New York’s state legislature passed a law to repeal these hidden charges, known as the “100-foot rule” – a change estimated to save New Yorkers up to $600 million annually. However, Governor Hochul has since postponed its effective start date to April 10, 2027, leaving New Yorkers on the hook for these extra costs much longer than the state’s legislators intended.
In Maryland, the state’s utilities regulator in May 2026 further delayed new rules to finally get these charges off residential utility bills. This move has worried local advocates, who warn that delaying the cost-saving measure would result in an estimated $150 million in annual customer costs.
Ending these hidden gas connection charges also comes with an added housing affordability bonus: analysis has shown that building new homes all-electric is typically less expensive and faster to build while being cheaper to operate.
If expanding for-profit utilities’ customer bases is good for their businesses, let them subsidize it with their shareholders’ dollars, not yours.
End the unchecked pipeline replacement spending
Since 2010, gas utilities across the U.S. have massively increased, more than tripling, their spending on pipeline replacement projects. Now the average household is paying more for these charges than for the fuel itself – in 2024, system infrastructure accounted for 70% of gas utility bills compared to just about 30% for the gas.
The cumulative impact of years of excessive utility distribution system spending amounts to a huge impact on family budgets. According to one analysis, if utilities had instead maintained pre-2010 levels of spending, their customers would have saved $130 billion — or $1,723 per household.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. While the gas industry needs to address the health and safety threats of their product, there are often cheaper alternatives for dealing with this aging infrastructure. State policymakers need to require that utilities pursue the least-cost option for repairing or replacing problematic pipes.
Rein-in excess utility profit margins
The total increase in gas and electric utility spending has not only produced a massive increase in utility rate hike requests, it’s also led to soaring profits for investor-owned utilities as well as eye-watering executive compensation.
One key contributor is the approved returns that utilities are allowed to earn on the money they spend has become increasingly generous over the past several decades and remains at levels needlessly above what is necessary for these companies to continue serving our communities.
There’s an immediate fix that could reduce your monthly utility bills: state regulators could rightsize the rate of profit utilities earn on their investments to lower, more appropriate margins.
Take Action
Many households do not have time for further delays in addressing runaway bills. Recent analysis has shown the percentage of American households with past due balances on their utility bills has jumped in the past year.
State legislators and regulators can and should act today to start shaving household utility bills, and you can make your voice heard by:
- Marylanders, join other local advocates in sending this quick message to the Chair of the state’s Public Service Commission urging them to end outdated gas line subsidies.
