"If you've opened your natural gas or electric bill lately and bit back a scream, or watched the numbers tick up and up at the gas pump, you're not alone. For many Americans, energy prices feel uncomfortably high right now.

The second Trump administration has worked to unwind policies that would promote a wide range of alternatives to fossil fuels, like renewable energy and electric vehicles. And that policy shift started long before the war in Iran disrupted the flow of oil and natural gas from the Middle East.

How do those changes affect what Americans pay for energy now, and how easily the country can adapt to future shocks in oil supply?"

Michael Copley and Camila Domonoske report for NPR March 23, 2026. [2]