Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at "60 Minutes," CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.

Over the past year, Suzann Hernandez and Camilo Aguirre have put a lot of effort into lowering their energy bill. Beyond simple solutions like turning off lights or closing doors when either the heat or AC was on, the couple insulated their windows and kept the temperature set at a strict 76 degrees, even on the hottest days of summer.

Despite their best efforts, however, their energy savings strategy had little impact against a rate hike that went into effect in their home state of New Jersey on June 1. The increase, approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in February, raised the average electric bill for residents in the state by 17%, according to a letter the state's largest utility company sent to customers earlier this year.

"We thought [we'd] see at least a $50 decrease," Hernandez told CBS News' correspondent Tom Hanson. "When we compared it to what we got this year, we only saw a $20 decrease."

It's not only residents in the Garden State who are feeling the pinch of higher prices.

"This is a national problem," Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University, told CBS News.

According to a new report from PowerLines, a nonprofit focused on lowering utility bills, utility rate increase requests and approvals totaled more than $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025. That's almost double the $16 billion in requests and approvals over the same period in 2024.

Those rate hikes are expected to show up in the bills of over 124 million customers this year, PowerLines found. For those Americans already struggling to make ends meet the hikes will mean additional economic hardship, the organization said in its report.

By and large, customers nationwide are feeling powerless in the face of the escalating energy costs.

"It feels like there's nothing we can do about it," said Karin Gudal, an AES Ohio customer quoted in PowerLines report. "We can try to make our buildings as energy efficient as we can...but even that takes money."

Data shows that utility prices for American households have continued to climb. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, residential electricity prices this year were up 11% in August from January.

Politicians, meanwhile, are using their campaign platforms to cater to frustrated voters.

In New Jersey, for example, rising energy prices is an issue gubernatorial race candidates have latched onto in the lead up to elections on Nov. 4. In their campaign ads, both Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill and Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli promise they will help curb energy bills if elected.

Cassino expects the issue, which has consumed the political race in New Jersey, will soon reverberate in races throughout the country.

"This is a harbinger of what's gonna happen next year in the midterm elections," he said. "This issue's not going to go away. It's not like the power bills are going to go down."

Soaring electricity bills are squeezing households as utilities seek higher rates