What are the factors behind cheaper electricity here?

The Midwest is lucky because we have a lot of renewable energy: wind, solar.

Additionally, our population is relatively spread out, so it is somewhat easier to get energy from point A to point B. There's a number of regional transmission operators that handle the interstate commerce of energy to get energy from, let's say, Oklahoma to Wisconsin or from Iowa to Nebraska.

Additionally, we have less dramatic shifts in energy demand, so it's somewhat easier to manage.

The Midwest is lucky with its natural resources.

But as we've seen this year from wildfires, floods, and heat waves, we're not immune from the kinds of threats that places like California are used to.

So looking at the trajectory and from what you're describing, are energy bills just doomed to keep increasing?

I wouldn't say doomed, but they're likely to increase in the short term.