Electricity prices surge 6.3% nationwide as AI data centers and winter weather strain the grid, outpacing inflation and hitting household budgets hard.

The impact of the AI industry on electricity prices has turned into a major political flashpoint ahead of the midterm elections this November.

“Consumer electricity prices have been growing at a much faster rate than the rate of inflation in the general economy, which is important because the rate of inflation and general economy has been pretty high,” says Christopher Knittel, faculty director of the MIT Climate Policy Center.

Utility capital spending is set to surge far beyond official projections, driven by higher equipment costs and accelerating electricity demand from AI and electrification.

A nanodevice developed at EPFL produces an autonomous, stable current from evaporating saltwater by using heat and light to control the movement of ions and electrons. Previously, researchers in the Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technology (LNET) in EPFL's School of Engineering reported a platform for studying the hydrovoltaic (HV) effect—a phenomenon that allows electricity to be harvested when fluid is passed over the charged surface