An Austintown Township trustee is warning residents that their electric rates will soon increase by nearly double the current amount.

The current electrical rate in the township is .0499 cents per kilowatt hour. Trustee Bruce Shepas tells 21 News these rates will soon go up to .0933 cents per kilowatt hour.

Consumers will begin seeing these rate increases on their electric bills for the month of June and will be effective for the next 12 months. Shepas says this increase is not specific to Austintown, but is a state and nationwide issue.

Shepas said the primary reason for the increase is an energy shortage due to artificial intelligence (AI), as well as coal and electric vehicles.

"It is our job to get multiple quotes from different brokers, as we did, and we found the best rate to be .0933 cents the day we signed," Shepas said.

Shepas encouraged residents who are unhappy with this increase to opting out of these rates and shopping around for a different company. Residents can opt out at any time during the 12-month period.

However, Shepas stressed that Austintown's rate is fixed and is advising residents not to be fooled by "variable rates" or "limited time" rates.

"The prediction for the summer is that [rates] will go up to 12 to 13 [cents per kilowatt hour], so please be cautious of the variable rate or the low introductory rate and then the rate per kilowatt goes up in summer," Shepas said.

As for where electrical rates will be after the 12-month period, Shepas says forecasters are predicting that rates will either remain steady or lessen, but there is no way to know for sure.