Rising Electricity Bills Force 1 in 5 Americans to Cut Back on Food, Survey Finds

A surprise electric bill in the middle of summer is the kind of thing that, for some households, gets paid out of the grocery budget. That is the picture painted by a new Consumer Reports survey of more than 2,000 American adults: about one in five say they have cut back on groceries to afford their electricity, and roughly a quarter say they are setting their heating or air conditioning at uncomfortable levels to hold costs down.

The nonprofit advocacy group also asked people who have lived in the same home for at least three years whether their bills had risen. About 80% said yes. The largest single share, 28%, reported increases of between 20% and 49% over that stretch. Federal data point the same direction, showing electricity prices across major U.S. cities up 14% over the last three years.

The squeeze is landing alongside other pressures. Families are also dealing with sharply higher gasoline and diesel prices, tied to higher oil costs from the war in Iran. The survey found people coping in familiar ways: switching to cheaper foods and spending less on discretionary items. Sara Enright, senior director of safety and energy at Consumer Reports, told CBS News that people are cutting back on food to pay utility bills, and that they are also dropping non-essentials such as vacations and eating out. Utility bills tend to get paid first, she noted, because people need the lights on and the refrigerator running.

Enright said the hardest hit are those with little room to maneuver. Students and retirees on fixed incomes, she said, don't have much flexibility, and a surprise bill in summer heat can be frightening.

Respondents had their own explanations for the increases. They blamed utility companies seeking to maximize profits and the rapid buildout of data centers. Schneider Electric, an energy management company, forecasts that electricity demand will climb by 2029, mainly because of data centers spreading across the country. Natural gas prices, the ongoing electrification of buildings and vehicles, and other factors are also pushing costs up. A majority of respondents said they do not believe state utility regulators are protecting their interests. Enright said the public is growing more distrustful that government is looking out for it, across party lines.

Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, described a shift in who is asking for help. More middle-income households are applying for government energy assistance even though their incomes are too high to qualify. The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is limited to people earning less than 60% of their state's median income. Wolfe said people have absorbed high food bills, high gasoline bills and high summer cooling bills, and that for a household living paycheck to paycheck, a $100 to $150 monthly rise in driving costs might be the entire surplus. He said consumers feel the government is not standing behind them and that they cannot control these prices.

The issue is also showing up in politics ahead of next month's midterm elections. An October survey from Climate Power, a clean energy advocacy group, found food costs are the top concern for voters in battleground states, followed by gas prices and utility bills.

Consumer Reports is responding with a new initiative called Power Smarter, which includes a tool called the CR Bill Decoder. Consumers can submit their electric bills, and the organization will anonymize and aggregate the data. Enright said it is meant as a simple first step for people who want to understand their bills, and that Consumer Reports will use the data for national and state-level evaluations of what is driving energy costs, then advocate for keeping them affordable. The first results from that analysis are what to watch for next.