President Donald Trump made numerous promises to voters on the 2024 campaign trail, and according to a new report from The Hill, one of his biggest remains unfulfilled more than a year and a half into his second term.

As the Monday morning report noted, Trump repeatedly pledged to lower costs during his reelection campaign, at a time when the rising cost of living was, and remains, the top issue on many voters’ minds. At one point, he said he would be able to make major cuts to energy prices within 18 months.

“Under my leadership, the United States will commit to the ambitious goal of slashing energy and electricity prices by half, at least,” Trump said at a campaign rally. “We intend to slash prices by half within 12 months, at a maximum, 18 months.”

Now, a few days past the 18-month mark of his second term, The Hill reported that Trump has not only failed to lower energy prices, but that they are now rising under his watch. That matters because energy costs feed directly into household budgets and can also affect other goods and services that depend on transportation and power, making them one of the most visible measures voters use when judging whether broader cost-of-living promises are being met.

“However, average household electricity prices for the first five months of 2026 were about 12 percent higher than the same period in 2024, significantly outpacing inflation,” the report said. “While gasoline fluctuated during the Biden administration, prices are now about 60 cents higher than they were at this time in 2024, averaging $4.11 per gallon on Friday, according to AAA.”

Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, told The Hill that energy costs are having a meaningful effect on the overall cost of living for Americans. He said that if oil remained around $100 per barrel for a year, it could cost the average family an extra $800 annually. He also noted that energy prices can ripple through multiple parts of the economy.

“They have higher costs of gasoline to run their car,” Wolfe said. “Food costs will increase on the margin because trucks need to deliver groceries. If you use heating oil to heat your home, the cost will be higher ... On heating oil and gasoline, it’s a direct result of the war. It’s pushing up prices and creating this instability in the market.”

Rising electricity costs, the outlet noted, are a more “complicated” issue. Thomas Rowlands-Rees, head of Global Power Markets Analysis at BloombergNEF, said that “we’re getting to a point where the bill is coming” for power grid upgrades, and that those costs cannot be attributed to any single presidential administration. In other words, some of the pressure on utility bills comes from longer-running infrastructure needs rather than short-term political decisions.

Wolfe also criticized Trump for creating major obstacles to renewable energy, which he said could help stabilize electricity prices during a period of historically volatile costs.

“It’s a problem for any incumbent,” GOP strategist Keith Naughton told The Hill, discussing the political outlook for the midterms. “Anything that’s raising prices is going to be a challenge for whoever’s in office.”