Grid congestion cost the US $17 billion last year

The nation's power grid isn't moving electricity as efficiently as it should, and the cost of that inefficiency hit $17 billion in 2025, up from $12 billion in 2024. This "congestion" happens when cheap power exists in one place but the transmission lines can't carry enough of it to where demand is high, so grid operators have to fire up pricier local power plants instead. That gap between low-cost and high-cost areas has been growing for years, driven by a lack of new transmission lines, extreme weather like last summer's heat, and high natural gas prices.

The costs vary widely by region. PJM, which covers much of the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest, had the highest congestion costs at $3.2 billion, largely from summer heat waves overwhelming its system. Texas's grid operator, ERCOT, came in at $2.5 billion, with wind-rich West Texas unable to export enough power and the booming Permian Basin unable to import enough. The Midwest grid operator MISO saw costs jump 23% due to high gas prices and storm-related outages.

For homeowners, this mostly shows up as upward pressure on electricity bills, especially if you live in one of these regions during peak demand periods. Fixes are underway but slow: Texas approved a major transmission buildout in December, though those lines won't be running until the early 2030s. Other regions are testing software that reroutes power around bottlenecks, which has already saved money in the Midwest. None of this changes anything immediately, but it signals that grid-related cost pressures on electricity bills are likely to continue for a while.