RIPTON, Vermont (AP) 鈥� At a time when the Trump administration while and spiked, longtime climate activist Bill McKibben finds hope in something that didn’t seem that strong on a recent single-digit-temperature day: the sun.
That sun has provided him cheap power for 25 years, and this month he installed his fourth iteration of solar panels on his Vermont home. In an interview after he set up the new system, he said President Donald Trump’s stance against solar and other cheap green energy will hurt the GOP in this year’s elections as electricity bills rise.
After the Biden and Obama administrations subsidized and championed solar, wind and other green power as answers to fight climate change, Trump has tried to dampen those and turn to older and dirtier fossil fuels. last month but three of the projects to resume. Federal that include installing home solar panels.
Meanwhile, in the United States, and McKibben is counting on that to trigger political change.
鈥淚 think you鈥檙e starting to see that have a big political impact in the U.S. right now. My prediction would be that electric prices are going to be to the 2026 election what egg prices were to the 2024 election,鈥� said McKibben, an author and founder of multiple environmental and activist groups. Everyday in the last presidential race, analysts said.
The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors on Friday on the operator of the nation鈥檚 largest electric grid to take urgent steps to boost power supplies in the mid-Atlantic and keep electricity bills from rising even higher.
鈥淓nsuring the American people have reliable and affordable electricity is one of President Trump鈥檚 top priorities,鈥� said White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers.
Renewable energy prices drop around the world
Globally, the price of wind and solar power is plummeting to the point that they are cheaper than fossil fuels, the found. And in renewable energy technology, with one of its .
“We can鈥檛 economically compete in a world where China gets a lot of cheap energy and we have to pay for really expensive energy,” McKibben told The Associated Press, just after he installed a new type of solar panels that can hang on balconies with little fuss.
When Trump took office in cents per kilowatt-hour. By September it was up to 18.07 cents and then down slightly to 17.98 cents in October, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That’s a 12.8% increase in 10 months. It rose more in 10 months than the previous two years. People in have seen electricity prices rise at a rate three times higher than the national average since October 2024.
At 900 kilowatt-hours per month, that means the average monthly electricity bill is about $18 more than in January 2025.
Democrats blame Trump for rising electric bills
This week, Democrats on Capitol Hill blamed rising electric bills on Trump and his dislike of renewable energy.
鈥淔rom his first day in office, he鈥檚 made it his mission to limit American鈥檚 access to cheap energy, all in the name of increasing profits for his friends in the fossil fuel industry. As a result, energy bills across the country have skyrocketed,” Illinois Rep. Sean Casten said at a Wednesday news conference.
鈥淒onald Trump is the first president to intentionally raise the price of something that we all need,鈥� Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, also a Democrat, said Wednesday on the Senate floor. 鈥淣obody should be enthused about paying more for electricity, and this national solar ban is making everybody pay more. Clean is cheap and cheap is clean.鈥�
Solar panels on McKibben’s Vermont home
McKibben has been sending excess electricity from his solar panels to the Vermont grid for years. Now he’s sending more.
As his dog, Birke, stood watch, McKibben, who refers to his home nestled in the Green Mountains of Vermont as a 鈥渕useum of solar technology” got his new panels up and running in about 10 minutes. This type of panel from the California-based firm Bright Saver is often referred to as . Though it’s not yet widely available in the U.S., McKibben pointed to the style’s popularity in Europe and Australia.
鈥淎mericans spend three or four times as much money as Australians or Europeans to put solar panels on the roof. We have an absurdly overcomplicated permitting system that鈥檚 unlike anything else on the rest of the planet,” McKibben said.
McKibben said Australians can obtain each day through a government program because the country has built so many solar panels.
鈥淎nd I鈥檓 almost certain that that鈥檚 an argument that every single person in America would understand,” he said. “I don鈥檛 know anyone who wouldn鈥檛 say: 鈥業鈥檇 like three free hours of electricity.鈥欌��
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Swinhart reported from Vermont. Borenstein reported from Washington. Matthew Daly contributed to this report from Washington.
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