PHOTO ESSAY: In a corner of Appalachia, soaring utility costs are surpassing rents and mortgages

WEST COLUMBIA, W.Va. — Eric Pinson is obsessed with stacks of electric bills laid out in neat piles on his desk. He runs a camping trailer park in West Virginia not far from a planned data center — all in the shadow of an enormous coal-powered plant that recently received millions in funding from the Trump administration for upgrades.

The site was the last stop for many folks struggling to make it. But when electricity prices jumped last year, Pinson was forced to increase the all-inclusive rent from $350 to $400 a month. That shoved at least 16 campers out of the site, including some longtime residents.

“They were just right on the edge. … It’s hard, just watching it happen, and so many of them,” he said, adding out-of-state workers have moved in to replace them as the state woos big investments such as data centers. “It’s all about change.”

Thousands of West Virginians have been posting screenshots of monthly charges they are struggling to pay. They are angry over soaring utility cost s that eclipsed rents and mortgages this winter in one of the most energy-rich, yet poorest, corners of America.

President Donald Trump, as part of his campaign pitch to “make America affordable again,” promised to cut Americans’ electricity bills by at least half during his first year to 18 months in the White House.

Instead, electricity increased 4.8% in February nationwide and piped natural gas prices rose 10.9%, both compared with a year earlier, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index. That surpassed inflation even before the attacks on Iran by the U.S. and Israel sent energy costs ballooning.

Rebecca Michalski, who’s disabled, was forced to take out a loan this winter to pay her electric bill due to high heating costs. Her February charge was $940.08 — more than her fixed income and mortgage. She’s still behind on her payments and said she expects the lights will ultimately be shut off.

“It’s breaking me. And there’s nothing that can be done for it, unless the president does something,” said Michalski, adding she no longer supports Trump. “And I don’t see him doing it. He’s had plenty of time.”

The White House said lowering electricity prices is a top priority for the president, and that he is “aggressively unleashing reliable energy sources like coal and natural gas.”

West Virginia is an outlier nationwide because of its resistance to adopting cleaner, cheaper sources of energy, such as natural gas, nuclear power and renewables like wind and solar. Instead, it clings to aging coal-powered electric plants more than anywhere else in the country — about 87% of all production.

Even though monthly bills remain higher in other states, salaries in West Virginia have simply not kept pace — it’s the only place in the country where the median inflation-adjusted household income was lower in 2023 than it was in 1970, according to the Urban Institute.

Increased demand, extreme weather and events, upgrading and maintaining aging infrastructure and rising natural gas prices are pushing electricity bills higher. Ratepayers are also wary as more power-gobbling data centers for artificial intelligence and cloud computing are being built. They are questioning noise pollution, huge water consumption and the effect on their electricity prices.

In February, Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced plans to build a $4 billion data center on nearly 550 acres in Berkeley County.

Another one is expected not far from Charles “Duke” Hodge’s mobile home. He lives with his two dogs in the park along the Ohio River that’s lost several of its camping trailers over the past year due to high energy costs. The veteran and retired railroad worker is a little better off, but says he’s been forced to occasionally take on part-time work to help pay his bills. During the hottest part of summer, he said he paid up to $140 a month for electricity. But after turning his heat on last year, his rates began to skyrocket.

“Once fall hits, everybody expects it to go up, but not 200 to 300%,” he said. “I went from $120 a month to $275, then it went to $350. Now, the last one was $450.”

That’s $60 more than his mortgage payment.

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This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.