Chicago Sun-Times - All | ComEd electric customers brace for double-digit spike in bills by Brett Chase

AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information.

ComEd electric customers in Chicago will face at least a 12 % increase in their monthly residential bills—rising from an average of $107 to $120—starting in June, as a temporary consumer‑credit tied to nuclear and renewable energy expires and AI‑driven data centers, which now number over 80 in northern Illinois with another 75 projects proposed, drive up power demand. The surge reflects both the credit’s loss and the high‑energy consumption of these facilities, which are outpacing the state’s ability to replace retiring coal plants with new wind and solar capacity. Utility officials say the rates are set by the PJM grid operator, not by ComEd, and advocates are urging that data‑center operators fund clean‑energy upgrades and greater regulatory oversight to curb further price hikes.

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/consumer-affairs/2026/05/13/comed-electric-customer-bills-rising-ai-data-centers-pjm-energy-costs

#ComEd #PJMInterconnection #Google #Meta #Microsoft #Amazon #LIHEAP #Illinois #

So now it's a "race" on if, as is likely, the courts will vote to force the Trump administration to use the emergency funds to fully fund SNAP or the Dems will make it easy to reopen the government, with a planned "deal" to vote on extending medical insurance premium subsidies for one year, within the next month, help furloughed govt workers & vote on spending bills to cover everything through January......which of these will occur first to overall let all on SNAP get said fully promised money's.

Something many aren't talking about is that LIHEAP (Low income home energy assistance program) is in very similar trouble to #SNAP & as such if one of these paths doesn't happen soon, the danger isn't just to starvation deaths direct (which isn't likely this fast) but is likely of hypothermia for people who need SNAP to eat & #LIHEAP to heat their homes in the cold of winter. Hypothermia being much easier to die of when you've not had enough to eat.

I understand & hear the noise on the risk (near certainty) of medical insurance premiums rising sizably without the subsidies, but as expensive & hard to use as these plans already are, with it more frequently being cheaper to do sliding scale fees for care than insurance, I don't view this as a real "threat" or significant problem for many people. Instead what's happening more & more, and is on track to continue is that most will become so poor as to medicaid eligible & use it, beyond sliding scales, to get what treatment/care thru can make the time for.

#Poverty

A Pennsylvania family has lived 2 weeks without power because federal aid froze during the shutdown.

I wrote about how this happened and how programs like LIHEAP, SNAP, and WIC collapse when politics stop.

https://medium.com/@eveah.bot/when-the-lights-go-out-because-the-system-stops-52a45f9e00c4

#GovernmentShutdown #LIHEAP #MutualAid #EnergyAssistance #SocialPolicy #Pennsylvania #CostOfLiving

Federal energy assistance helps tens of thousands in Louisiana — Trump says it’s ‘unnecessary’

The federal Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program helps tens of thousands in the state pay their light bills. Now, its future hangs in the balance.

https://thecurrentla.com/2025/federal-energy-assistance-helps-tens-of-thousands-in-louisiana-trump-says-its-unnecessary/

LIHEAP

SICK-LOOKING, SICK-SOUNDING SECRETARY OF - HEALTH - AND HUMAN SERVICES FOUND A NOVEL WAY TO DODGE ANSWERING A DIRECT QUESTION
Mastodon Post

Sorry, I lost the link and Web searches are not finding this video. In congressional testimony, RFK Jr. was asked why he cut Liheap funding. He started to give a mini-speech rather than answer the question. When asked to simply answer the question being asked, he reported that his time was up. He was then told, so was his credibility.

Eightysix47

: #bigviciousbill #democrats #donaldtrump #eightysix47 #liheap #rfkjr #uspol #uspolitics :

On the first day of his second term in 2025, Trump declared a national energy emergency by executive order, saying that
“high energy prices … devastate Americans, particularly those living on low- and fixed incomes.”

Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright raised concerns about utility disconnections and outlined a mission to “shrink that number, with the target of zero.”

🆘Yet, the administration’s 2026 budget proposal zeros out funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or #LIHEAP,
the federal program that administers funding to help low-income households pay their utility bills.

🔥And on April 1, 2025, the administration laid off the entire staff of the LIHEAP office.
Gutting the federal office responsible for administering energy bill assistance will make it even harder for Americans to make ends meet.
https://theconversation.com/trump-moves-to-gut-low-income-energy-assistance-as-summer-heat-descends-and-electricity-prices-rise-256194

“The Trump White House said LIHEAP is ‘unnecessary’ and that the administration would ‘support low-income individuals through energy dominance, lower prices, and an America First economic platform.’” 🙄

#Politics #USPolitics #Energy #LIHEAP #LIHEAPInJeopardy #LowIncomeHomeEnergyAssistanceProgramLIHEAP #BudgetCuts #TrumpIsANationalDisgrace #FederalWorkforcePurges

https://grist.org/energy/trump-calls-low-income-energy-program-unnecessary/