"Gas Exports Are Driving Up Americans’ Energy Bills, Report Says"

"Higher exports of liquefied natural gas in 2025 played a significant role in rising utility bills, an analysis of federal data found."

"During the 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump promised voters that his policies would lower their energy prices by 50 percent, repeating this pledge in speeches in New York, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. “We will cut energy and electricity prices in half within 12 months—not just for businesses but for all Americans and their families,” he wrote in a Newsweek op-ed. 

That hasn’t happened. Nationwide, electricity bills are up 13 percent compared to last year, with some states facing steeper jumps than others. One of the reasons for those increases is the growing export of liquefied natural gas and a corresponding spike in gas prices, argues a new report from Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. 

The analysis, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, found that Americans paid $12 billion more for natural gas between January and September 2025 than they did over the same period last year. Because natural gas is used to heat homes directly and to power the electric grid, its price has an outsized impact on Americans’ utility bills. Higher exports leave Americans more exposed to swings in the global market.

LNG exports were up 22 percent this year, according to the report. While the U.S. is already the world’s largest exporter of the fuel, the second Trump administration has made increasing LNG exports a priority."

Kiley Bense reports for Inside Climate News December 17, 2025.

Source: Inside Climate News, 12/19/2025