Americans Expect Energy Bills to Rise as Power Grid Struggles to Meet Unprecedented Demand

Nearly half (48%) of US consumers have noticed an increase in the number of power outages in their area over the past five years, a new survey by Neara finds

SEATTLE, Jan. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Neara, the first AI-powered predictive modeling software platform for critical infrastructure, today released survey findings from 2,000 US consumers on energy concerns. The results show Americans are dissatisfied with rising energy costs, not optimistic about the future of energy, power, and climate, and have noticed an increase in power outages in recent years.

The power grid is underperforming and energy bills are on the rise.

• 59% of Americans say they're currently paying too much for their energy bill.
• Nearly half of respondents (47%) think their energy bills will increase.
• 43% of respondents aren't confident that there will be improvement in the power grid's ability to prepare for extreme weather.

As a result of high energy bills, survey respondents stated the United States' top energy-related priority should be lowering these costs. The root cause of these increases is a lack of improvement in power grid reliability and resilience. While the Department of Energy has allocated $7.6 billion so far to grid resilience projects in the US, more still needs to be done as energy fees will continue to rise for consumers until the grid is able to support today's unprecedented power demand.

Additionally, 43% of Americans aren't confident that the power grid is any better positioned to withstand extreme weather than it has been in past years. This comes after a record year of natural disasters, notably Hurricanes Beryl and Helene. These increasingly severe weather events, in tandem with aging infrastructure and processes, leave US consumers vulnerable to high energy bills and less reliable power.

Americans face increased outages but expect power to be restored in 1-2 hours.

• 48% of Americans reported an increase in the number of power outages in their area over the past five years.
• More than a third (37%) of respondents think utilities should fully restore power 1-2 hours after a severe storm, with another third (33%) expecting full restoration within 3-5 hours after the storm.

Nearly 1 in 2 Americans (48%) have noticed an increased frequency of power outages in recent years, but still expect power to be restored in record time. These outages are a direct result of rising energy demand and a power grid that's struggling to keep up. To meet these expectations, utilities must prioritize grid resilience efforts to restore power faster and reduce the impact of outages. Interestingly, despite the growing number of outages, 65% of Americans remain generally satisfied with how their utility company communicates during these events.

"Energy is integral to every aspect of our lives, from safety to economic growth. With the infrastructure that supports it under pressure like never before, the energy we depend on is becoming less reliable and more expensive. Neara is focused on helping utilities intelligently and cost-effectively make sure these critical assets are up to the task, especially when increasingly severe weather coupled with load growth makes energy resiliency a moving target," said Robert Brook, Managing Director of the Americas.

About the Survey

• 2,000 US adults were polled in a survey commissioned by Neara and carried out by Censuswide in January 2025.
• For access to the full survey, please reach out to [email protected]

About Neara

Neara's AI-assisted predictive modeling software helps infrastructure owners drive critical proactive decisions by conducting precise analyses in hours and days that would otherwise take months or years in the field. Network-wide simulation analyses reveal how assets behave in real-world environments during any scenario — empowering better, faster, more cost-effective decisions. The model supports end-to-end network governance, from routine operational decisions to emergency scenarios and major grid-hardening investments — without verification from manual surveys. Neara's technology has modeled >1.5 million square miles of global network territory featuring ~10 million assets, across four continents from California to Ireland and Australia. Neara's utility customers identify outage risks 9x faster, restore power 3x faster, and save thousands of field visits per year. More information is available at www.neara.com.

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SOURCE Neara