As residential electricity costs climb, big users pay less

Between 2022 and 2024 residential electricity costs 
increased by 10%. (Photo by J. Maculan, Unsplash)

After years of wallet-draining food inflation, many Americans must now contend with soaring home electric bills. "Since February 2020, electricity prices have increased by an average of 40% across the country," reports Shannon Osaka of The Washington Post. Overall, the brunt of the increased costs is being paid by residential customers even when they aren't the biggest users.

Many utilities have increased rates to fund needed infrastructure builds, but residential customers are paying more than commercial users. Osaka writes, "Residential electricity costs rose by 10% between 2022 and 2024. Commercial users, spanning everything from small corner stores to giant, energy-sucking data centers, have seen rates increase just 3%."

Building and repairing the poles, wires and transformers required for residential electricity delivery is costly and isn't generally needed by large commercial users, which is one reason many residential customers pay higher rates. Oska notes, "The average electricity price at the end of 2024 was 16 cents per kilowatt-hour for homes and apartments, and just 13 cents for commercial customers."

While infrastructure costs explain some of the difference in electrical prices, a complex system of lobbying goes on behind the scenes to determine how much a business will pay for electricity. Osaka reports. "In theory, each group is supposed to pay an amount that aligns with the cost to bring them power — but in practice, different groups can lobby for lower prices."

Charles Hua, executive director of PowerLines, a group that works to lower electricity costs for consumers across the country, told Osaka, "Residential consumers feel like they don’t have a voice in our utility regulatory system." Osaka adds, "Utilities often sign special contracts with data center customers that place them outside standard pricing agreements."

Some states are working to prevent data centers from shifting their expansion costs onto residential customers. Osaka reports, "Virginia recently established a new class for data centers and other huge users of electricity, with agreements in place to make sure the data centers pay for more of the grid upgrades required."

Analysis: Nursing home patient capacities have shrunk, with rural areas posting the greatest decreases

Rural areas had the greatest declines in available nursing
home beds since 2019. (Pixabay photo via Medical Express) 

Despite the rapidly aging U.S. population, nursing home capacity has shrunk nationwide since 2019. According to Sadie Harley for the University of Rochester Medical Center, a recently published study in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that 25% of U.S. counties "experienced decreases in the number of supported nursing home spots by 15% or more," with rural areas reporting the greatest declines.

The dwindling number of nursing home placements for older Americans translates into "nearly 4,000 fewer beds available for new patients each day," Harley writes. "But this decline was not felt by all communities equally. It varied widely across geographic regions, with rural counties more likely to face declines of 25% or more."

Rural communities are already grappling with fewer physicians, hospital closures and strained emergency medical services. The loss of nursing home spots presents another challenge, leaving more rural residents with few other options than to travel farther for ongoing care.

Within the U.S. medical system, nursing homes provide vital care to seniors who need regular medical treatment but don't require the expertise of hospital services. They also offer interim care for patients leaving the hospital who aren't yet ready to care for themselves at home. Harley explains, "The reduction in nursing home capacity was linked to longer hospital stays, especially extended stays of 28 days or more."

The decline in nursing home care spots isn't a reflection of the number of beds a facility has. Harley adds, "This study estimated nursing homes' operating capacity by taking other resource constraints into account." Study author Brian McGarry, told Harley, "The facility may not have the staff or other resources to fill every bed."

With too few employees and rangers, Yosemite National Park hosts visitors with the 'wrong kind of wildness'

Yosemite's iconic rock face, the Half Dome.
( Photo by J. Andersson, Unsplash)

National Park staffing reductions have left Yosemite's increasing number of visitors to their own devices. Park guests "were far less supervised than they normally were, which had led to the wrong kind of wildness — littering, cliff jumping, drone-flying," reports Soumya Karlamangla of The New York Times. Since 2025, the National Park Service staff has shrunk by 25%.

Meanwhile, Yosemite's visitor numbers have increased, and last summer was one of the park's "busiest summers in recent years," Karlamangla explains. "October was unusually packed because the park was left open and free during the federal government shutdown."

Without enough park rangers and staff, scientists working in Yosemite have taken to picking up trash and cleaning the bathrooms. Mark Ruggiero, a retired Yosemite ranger who still does part-time work in the park, told Karlamangla, "It’s really disheartening to see the direction we’re going."

Elisabeth Barton, a co-owner of a Yosemite guided tour company, explained how the lack of park rangers can mean visitors -- mostly unintentionally -- are seen doing things that could harm themselves, others or park land. The Times reports, "She has  noticed more visitors driving the wrong way down one-way roads, parking on sensitive meadows and BASE jumping off cliffs, which is not allowed."

Before the staffing cuts, park employees were stationed at Yosemite's entrance to collect entrance fees and explain the park rules and guidance. Park rangers also supervised the trails to ensure the safety and care of visitors and wildlife. 

"It was the vistas of Yosemite. . .that helped inspire the creation of the entire national park system," Karlamangla adds. "President Abraham Lincoln in 1864 made the Yosemite Valley federally protected land designated for public use."

Right now, Yosemite's staff is struggling to maintain the most basic services. Barton told Karlamangla, "I struggle to see the long game here.”

Small-town governments can intentionally build 'local patriotism' to combat voter and citizen apathy

Graph by Sean Richey, The Conversation

Despite the direct impact local governments have on public safety, taxes and schools, only a fraction of voters cast ballots in local elections, and many residents don't know their elected officials' names.

"Turnout in local elections regularly falls below 20%, often leaving critical decisions in the hands of small, unrepresentative groups, creating an electorate that’s disproportionately white, elderly and affluent," writes Sean Richey for The Conversation.

Richey's more recent research explored what factors influence why some voters become more engaged in their communities, and others don't. He notes, "An overlooked factor explains why some people engage with their communities while others tune out: local patriotism, or how they feel about their town."

Residents who "love their town" were far more likely to participate in activities that impact it. Richey explains, "Even after accounting for factors such as age, education, income and general interest in politics, loving one’s town strongly predicted participation in local politics. . . . Local patriotism also correlated strongly with trust in local government."

For smaller governments, encouraging local patriotism can open up dialogues with potential voters and volunteers who have different needs and hopes for their town. When citizens care, they are more likely to chime in and participate. On a broader scale, when Americans love their towns, their social and political activities support democracy.

Farmers markets can help residents build a sense of hometown 
pride. (Photo by Thomas Barwick, Getty via Conversation CC)

"Local patriotism appears to address a fundamental puzzle in political science: why anyone participates in local politics at all," Richey explains. "The time and effort required almost always exceed any tangible benefit an individual would receive."

Richey's study shows that whether starting a local farmers market, celebrating a new school building or encouraging nature walks that highlight a town's most celebrated wildlife or landscapes, local patriotism can be intentionally fostered. His complete list of suggestions is here.

South Dakota lawmakers grapple with Rural Health Transformation funding and sustainability

Monument Health in Rapid City, S.D., will receive RHTP funding.
(Photo by Seth Tupper, South Dakota Searchlight)

Legislative and practical worries about staffing and sustainability have some South Dakota lawmakers worried that the $189.5 million the state received from the Rural Health Transformation Program won't be enough to strengthen its rural hospitals in the long term, reports Makenzie Huber of South Dakota Searchlight.

Sen. Taffy Howard, R-Rapid City, has "questions and frustrations about the funding," Huber writes. Because of the way RHTP is structured, if South Dakota lawmakers don't spend the money, "another state will spend it instead."

South Dakota's RHTP application targeted 10 initiatives, including "creating a 'data atlas' for providers and facilities to share local and state agency data, improving the rural health care workforce, improving chronic disease management, establishing regional maternal and infant health care hubs, and regionalizing behavioral health care," Huber explains. 

To support its initiatives, the state's plan includes numerous incentives designed to attract and keep needed medical staffing, such as "sign-on bonuses, relocation assistance, and rural service stipends," Huber writes. Medical professionals who accept incentives must work in their assigned rural community for at least five years.

In reviewing all the initiatives, several lawmakers "asked questions about workforce needs and how those would be addressed outside of the incentives mentioned," Huber reports. "Howard told officials that she’s skeptical about the proposal and its sustainability." Howard pointed out that infant care hubs and mental health treatment may need more than "one-time funding to operate in financially strapped rural communities."

While state lawmakers are hopeful RHTP funding can sustainably improve rural health care, many remain concerned about what the loss of federal Medicaid dollars will mean for many rural patients and hospitals. 

Rep. Erik Muckey, D-Sioux Falls, told Huber, "This still doesn’t answer the question about how to sustain quality health care going forward because of massive cuts to Medicaid.”