Keeping the lights on seems to cost a little more each year.

But a federal bill aimed at helping the environment may hike up your bill by record proportions.

It’s called the American Clean Energy and Security Act, more commonly called "Cap and Trade" because for the first time it caps carbon emissions and forces utilities to "trade" for or buy the right to emit more.

One Conway resident already struggling with current electric rates says the price doesn't seem worth it.

“They were going to shut us off. We had a disconnect notice. They were going to pull the meter."

For Jim Kirschhoffer's family these power lines are life lines.

“If we don't have electricity she won't get her medication or her oxygen, so I guess we take a trip to the hospital then,” Jim tells us.

His wife has emphysema; she uses an oxygen tank all night- power isn't a luxury, it's a necessity.

Jim's utility company, Laclede Electric Cooperative, has had two rate increases in as many years, so when he lost his job six weeks ago power became a necessity the family couldn't afford.

“It’s a toss up between being able to put gas in the car and pay the electric bill."

The electricity delivered to Conway’s substation then to customers like Jim comes from coal, widely considered the cheapest form of energy.

Consequently, the Midwest, Missouri in particular, has some of the lowest utility rates in the country.

A new federal bill is threatening to change that.

“They’re specifically targeting coal fire generated plants,” explains Byron Dudley with Laclede Electric Cooperative.

Bill HR-2454 is designed to cap carbon emissions, but Missouri as a whole produces 40% more than the new bill permits, which means utilities will have to purchase the right to emit more.

The customer will foot part of that bill in the form of rate hikes as high as 50%.

“It could be detrimental to our customers in rural America; that's what we're trying to protect,” says Dudley.

Jim is one of them.

“To have a rate increase… I think would probably make some people go hungry."
Jim’s wife could go to the hospital.

Jim had to get assistance from an outside organization to pay his utility bill in May.

The federal bill will impact all utilities nationwide, but the rate increases will vary.

It cleared the house and is now in the senate.