Americans seem determined to learn the hard way that elections — meaning, who you vote for — have consequences, and residents in Illinois may be ahead of the curve here.
There is a study from the Illinois Power Agency, the Illinois Commerce Commission, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency that suggests the state could be facing an energy shortage within the next five years and that electricity bills “could soar” in the coming years as power is harder to come by, according to CBS News.
Demand from artificial intelligence datacenters is cited among the reasons for a potential shortage, with the report saying customers could see usage increasing by 24% in the next 5 years, but there’s another key factor not getting much attention from the media. In addition to “transmission constraints” — see clean energy — and “extreme weather patterns” being listed as contributing factors, WTVO references the “retirement of older fossil-fuel plants.”
Illinois warns of energy shortages and higher bills.
Yes. Higher than these bills.
The “there’s no way this is right” ones.After shutting down reliable power
Driving demand higher with energy-hungry data centers
Promising lower costsWho could have possibly seen this coming?… pic.twitter.com/zKtXHRuXh1
— Jen (@IlliniJen) December 18, 2025
But it’s not old age that’s prompting this “retirement.” It’s the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act passed a few years ago by Democrats, which requires Illinois to be gas and coal-free by 2050.
How high will electricity bills go? In the Chicago area, customers could be paying as much as $70 more per month in the next three years, according to the Citizens Utility Board.
“Without the means to bring a whole bunch of electric supply online as quickly as these data centers are coming online, you see skyrocketing prices as a result,” Citizens Utility Board executive director Sarah Moskowitz said.
The office of Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said the state “set up a deliberate process to address findings from this resource adequacy study and ensure Illinois continues to lead the country in delivering a clean, reliable, affordable energy future for all.”
“The new state resource adequacy report confirms what we have known: rising demand and changes in generation, both in Illinois and across the region, are reshaping the energy landscape,” the office said in a statement. “Illinois is prepared, with a strong grid and remains an energy exporter today that continues to deliver reliable power for working families and businesses.”
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:
If the Democrats make things any more “affordable” for me I’ll go bankrupt.
— Lester Melvin (@midnightamerica) December 18, 2025
They closed a bunch of power plants around 2022 (during the peak of the inflation/energy cost crisis), and wanted to force 6 (if I recall correctly) nuclear power plants to shutdown.
When it became obvious that shuttering the NPPs would be political suicide, they backed off.
— Gerad Munsch (@unforgiven512) December 19, 2025
Illinois is corrupt to its core.
They used climate change to limit our access to energy. Power grids were left to decay.
Now the need for energy is ramping up to support AI data banks.
Gill bates has made the pivot. That’s the sign.
The people will suffer more.
— ☦️💞ladydiblu💞☦️ (@ladydiblu1) December 19, 2025
How retarded are these people to vote in dems promising to shut down cheap coal plants? Then keep voting for them. Lose their jobs. Pay higher bills. But keep votong dem.
— Elihu Cash (@ElihuCash) December 19, 2025
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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