US LNG export surge blamed for $12 billion jump in domestic gas costs

LNG exports surge as US energy bills climb

Rising exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have become a significant driver of higher US utility bills, according to a new report from consumer advocacy group Public Citizen cited by Yale E360. The analysis, based on US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, found that Americans paid $12 billion more for natural gas between January and September 2025 than over the same period a year earlier.

LNG exports rose 22 percent this year, the report said. The United States is already the world's largest LNG exporter, and roughly 25 percent of all US natural gas production is now directed to exports, according to Tyson Slocum, author of the report and director of Public Citizen's energy program. Because gas heats homes directly and fuels much of the power grid, its price feeds straight into consumer bills. Nationwide, electricity bills are up 13 percent from a year ago.

Where costs are rising fastest

Reuters reports that the export boom is being drawn into a wider US cost-of-living debate. During the 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump pledged to cut energy prices by 50 percent within 12 months. Instead, an Inside Climate News analysis of EIA data through September shows the steepest increases in Republican-leaning states — Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Wyoming. Missouri faces a nearly 42 percent rise since January.

The strain is visible at the household level. Census Bureau data from September 2024 showed 23 percent of Americans could not pay at least one energy bill in full over the prior year. In Pennsylvania, electricity service terminations were up 27 percent year over year as of September, according to Elizabeth Marx of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project.

Export deals with Asia and Europe

The Trump administration has prioritized LNG exports. One of the president's first acts was to reverse the Biden administration's pause on new LNG export permits. The Department of Energy says it has approved projects authorized to export roughly 25 percent more than 2024 levels. In June, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced four agreements between US producers and Japan's JERA to export up to 5.5 million tons of LNG per year over two decades.

Europe remains the top buyer, taking 53 percent of US LNG exports in 2024. Trump's August trade deal with the European Union envisages EU procurement of US LNG, oil and nuclear energy products with an expected offtake valued at $750 billion through 2028. In September, Wright and Burgum traveled to Europe to press the EU to reconsider a methane emissions regulation, due in 2027, that could curb US LNG imports. Slocum said European benchmark gas prices have fallen even as US prices rose, arguing that American families are subsidizing cheaper gas for Europeans.

A political flashpoint

The White House rejects the link. Spokesperson Taylor Rogers said lowering energy costs remains a top priority and blamed higher bills in Democratic-leaning states on green energy projects, crediting Republican states with cutting costs through a drill-baby-drill agenda. Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, countered that the administration had put the LNG industry on speed dial. S&P Global separately reported that some US LNG exports have been disrupted as producers capitalize on the domestic price spike.