California electricity bills are the highest of any state on the mainland.
Now 15 Democrat attorneys general are fighting to make sure the federal reforms that could lower that bill never take effect.
What they filed will deliver a punch in the gut to everyone paying an electric bill.
Democrats Block the Reform That Could Lower Electric Bills in These States
On May 21, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – the federal agency that oversees natural gas pipelines and energy infrastructure – voted 5 to 0 to propose the most significant pipeline permitting overhaul in twenty years.
If a company already received federal approval to build a natural gas storage or pipeline facility and wants to upgrade or expand it, the new rule lets them skip redundant paperwork and get moving faster.
FERC Chairman Laura Swett called it a "historic step" to get American energy moving again.
Seven weeks later, 15 Democrat attorneys general filed federal comments demanding FERC kill it.
The coalition – which includes Maryland AG Anthony Brown – covers California, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Oregon, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont, Arizona, Washington, and Washington, D.C.
Their argument: faster permitting will "raise energy bills."
Why Electricity Rates Are Highest in Democrat-Run States
California electricity now costs 33.25 cents per kilowatt-hour – second highest in theUnited States.
New York sits at 29.93 cents.
Massachusetts and Maine rank among the five most expensive states in the country.
The Institute for Energy Research analyzed federal data and found that 86 percent of states with above-average electricity prices voted Democrat in both 2020 and 2024.
Blue states saw electricity prices rise 32.4 percent between 2014 and 2024.
Red states: 18.5 percent.
That 14-point gap is not an accident.
It is what happens when politicians mandate renewable energy deadlines their grids cannot meet, ban natural gas drilling over the world's largest deposits, and then call themselves protectors of ratepayers.
New York banned fracking decades ago while sitting on enormous natural gas reserves.
California ordered 100 percent carbon-free electricity while building a grid that cannot keep the lights on without imported power.
Maine passed aggressive clean energy mandates and watched electricity prices climb 55 percent over a decade.
Trump Cut Natural Gas Pipeline Approvals by 40 Percent and Democrats Are Fighting Back
Under Biden, the average wait time between a completed federal environmental review and final approval for a natural gas pipeline was 178 days.
Under Trump, that figure dropped to 102 days – a 43 percent reduction – without cutting a single environmental review short.
The unanimous May 2026 vote was the next step: a permanent rule change that would let pipeline companies upgrade already-approved infrastructure without restarting the entire federal approval process from the beginning.
The attorneys general filing against this are not defending ratepayers.
They are defending the regulatory blockades that keep natural gas infrastructure strangled – the same blockades their own states' energy policies created.
Anthony Brown, Maryland's AG, signed onto a letter claiming the proposal would cause "other harms without countervailing benefits."
Maryland electricity rates have risen nearly 50 percent since 2020.
That is the countervailing benefit he is protecting his constituents from.
Letitia James in New York signed the same letter.
New York ratepayers are paying electricity prices 58 percent above the national average.
These AGs built their states' energy policy on mandated renewables and blocked pipelines, then watched rates climb for a decade – and now they are filing federal comments to block the one reform that could change the trajectory.
Europe ran this same script for 30 years.
Europeans now pay three to four times what Americans pay for electricity.
That is the destination these 15 attorneys general are navigating toward.
Meanwhile, states that built their grids around natural gas tell a different story.
Louisiana has some of the lowest electricity rates in the country.
Kentucky rates are 21 percent below the national average.
Texas saw rates rise just 9.5 percent over the same decade that California's climbed 78 percent.
The federal reform these AGs are fighting would make it faster and cheaper to build the kind of infrastructure those states already have.
That is what they filed to stop.
Sources:
- "FERC Unleashes Natural Gas Permit Reforms," Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, May 21, 2026.
- "State AGs Urge FERC to Reject Expanded Pipeline Fast-Track Rule," Pipeline & Gas Journal, July 2026.
- "Blue States, High Rates," Institute for Energy Research / Always On Energy Research, December 2025.
- "Electricity Rates by State (August 2026)," ElectricChoice.com, August 2026.
- "Analysis: Higher Electricity Rates in Blue States Linked to Renewable Energy Policies," American Greatness, July 2026.
- "Sen. Alan Armstrong Introduces Sweeping Energy Permitting Reform Package," Fox News, June 2026.