Power Bills Will Keep Rising Even After the Fed Tames Inflation (1)

Alfredo De Avila grows increasingly frustrated when his electricity bill arrives each month. Price gains for groceries and other household essentials have eased in the past year, but the rising cost of power is still eating into his budget.

“Food has been a worry, but now electricity is the worry,” says the 75-year-old retiree. “Unless you want to go to candles and firewood, we have no other choice but to bite the bullet and pay.”

For the Oakland, California, resident, that bullet is coming from the state’s biggest electricity provider, PG&E Corp., which hiked bills for residential customers 13% ...