Apr 3, 2026
Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows the price of power is rising, with average energy costs rising from $0.084 per kilowatt-hour in January 2000 to $0.192 in January 2026. That’s a nearly 130% surge in 26 years (1).
There are two culprits behind these rising costs: data centers and severe weather events (2, 3). But if you hear a humming from your appliances, “dirty power” could be contributing to your higher-than-average bills.
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In simple terms, dirty power is electricity with disruptions. Whether it's voltage spikes or high-frequency “noise” (aka harmonic distortion), electricity isn’t flowing smoothly through your wiring.
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According to Bob Marshall, CEO of the fire prevention company Whisker Labs, harmonic distortion works like sound distortion when you crank up the volume on a stereo system. As Marshall told Kiplinger, “When your home has dirty power, your appliance motors vibrate instead of running smoothly” (4).
Over time, that excessive vibration makes your appliances work harder than they should, increasing the likelihood of overheating and breaking down early.
Experts like Marshall define the danger zone for harmonic distortion is anything around 6% - 8%. At that point, Marshall says you could be paying $1,000 more in electric costs per year. Not only that, because this issue reduces energy efficiency, you may end up buying a new appliance years before the old one should have died.
How does electricity become ‘unclean?’
In part, the rise in dirty electricity distortions coincides with the rise in high-tech products and chargers (5). Every time a device rapidly switches power on and off (think phone chargers or smart appliances), it can inject these wasteful bursts of electrical noise back into your system.
But the increased burden of modern devices aren’t solely to blame for this phenomenon.
The quality of the utility grid also plays a role in just how “clean” electricity is. As electricity travels from power plants and transmission lines into homes, there are plenty of opportunities for power degradation.
Data from Whisker Labs tracked harmonic distortion in key locations throughout the U.S., and it found that Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison Co. holds the title of the “dirtiest” dirty power offender. 41.5% of homes connected to Commonwealth Edison Co. had 8% or greater harmonic distortion for at least six months in the year (4).
Public Service Co. of Colorado had the second-highest reports for harmonic distortion at 31.5% of residences, and New Jersey’s Public Service Electric & Gas Co. came in third at 15.1%.
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But even if you aren’t in one of these “hot zones” for dirty electricity, chances are your infrastructure is a bit shabby. The Smart Electric Power Alliance says 70% of lines and transformers in the U.S. are at least 25 years old (6).
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How do you clean up a dirty power problem?
To figure out whether you’re dealing with dirty power, start by looking for a few subtle clues from your lights and devices.
For instance, if you notice your electronics running unusually warm or your appliances wearing out faster than expected, that could point to poor power quality.
Another red flag is a stubbornly high electric bill despite trying to reduce your energy usage.
If you want more data on how dirty your energy is, you could pick up a plug-in monitor to measure voltage fluctuations, or look into a smart plug with monitoring capabilities to track energy usage and spot irregularities.
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When the issue is inside your home, upgrading older, noisy devices can sometimes make a difference. You might also benefit from enhancing your system with power strips that have built-in filtering or whole-home surge protectors.
But for deeper issues like wiring problems or heavy interference, you’ll need an electrician to help track down the cause and recommend more targeted fixes.
Issues coming from the grid fall on your utility provider’s shoulders. Give your provider a call so they can perform power-quality checks and potentially address voltage swings.
Although cleaning up your energy isn’t quick or easy, it could be worth the effort and investment to lower electricity bills and keep your appliances healthy for years.
Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (1); Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2); Georgetown University (3); Kiplinger (4); Springer (5); Smart Electric Power Alliance (6)
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Eric Esposito is a freelance contributor on MoneyWise who loves making financial topics accessible and understandable to readers. In addition to MoneyWise, Eric’s work can be found in publications such as WallStreetZen and CoinDesk.
