Last year on the campaign trail, President Trump repeatedly promised to “slash energy and electricity prices by half within 12 months.” But actions speak louder than words. Since returning to office in January, the Trump administration has instead done everything it possibly can to drive up the cost of electricity. What is going on?
The damage starts with Trump’s attempts to prevent any new clean energy generation at a time when electricity demand is growing rapidly, caused by an explosion of new data centers and new housing, the expanding fleet of electric vehicles and a resurgence in American manufacturing. The U.S. needs more energy than ever, and 96% of electricity capacity added to the U.S. grid in 2024 came from clean energy. Why? Because clean energy is both the cheapest source of electricity and the fastest to produce. If we don’t rethink our energy future quickly enough to keep up with a growth in demand, then electricity prices will only continue to rise.
Then again, maybe the recent price spikes are part of Trump’s goals, because he’s done everything he can do to block new clean energy, including:
- Raising taxes on clean energy projects by at least 30% when Trump had all the renewable energy tax credits removed from his “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
- Blocking clean energy projects on federal lands, effectively creating a bureaucratic veto by requiring Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to personally sign off on permitting for every proposed clean energy project.
- Issuing “stop work” orders (with no significant justification) for two offshore wind projects that were fully approved and permitted — and, in one case, where construction was already 80% complete. This not only drives up the cost of constructing new electricity resources; it also creates a business climate in which no sane company would risk investing in new projects that may be torpedoed by an arbitrary and capricious federal government simply because the President thinks wind turbines mar his view.
- Canceling a Department of Energy loan commitment for the Grain Belt Express, a major transmission project designed to carry low-cost wind and solar energy from the Great Plains to Illinois and other eastern U.S. states where electricity prices have risen rapidly. This deprives those states of new energy and undermines the ability of Great Plains states to harness natural resources and grow their economies as energy exporters.
- Gutting federal agencies, such as the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, which helps finance big energy projects, especially for innovative new technologies such as geothermal and new nuclear. Without government support for first-of-their-kind projects, these initiatives simply won’t happen and promising new energy technology will be delayed for years.
It’s not just the cost of building clean energy development that Trump has sabotaged. His high and ever-changing tariffs have also scrambled supply chains and raised prices for all types of energy. New tariffs, for example, have raised the cost of steel by up to 50%, which affects the cost of pipes needed for natural gas plants as well as towers for wind turbines and racks for solar panels. Every single kind of new electricity generation is now more expensive, and those higher material costs create higher prices for electricity on our utility bills.
Trump has also raised costs of existing energy resources, including supporting the oil industry’s efforts to dramatically increase U.S. exports of natural gas. This will reduce the supply available for heating homes and running power plants in America, raising prices on electricity bills and gas bills at once. Trump has also used emergency powers to force less-than-profitable coal plants to stay open, saddling customers with the extra costs to subsidize these old plants. In one instance, it cost locals $29 million to keep the J.H. Campbell plant in West Olive, Mich., open for just five weeks of extended operations. Analysts now estimate that Trump’s push to keep coal plants open could add between $3 billion and $6 billion per year to our electricity bills.
Is this sheer economic incompetence — not difficult to fathom given the rate at which Trump has driven businesses into bankruptcy — or part of his strategy to deliberately make electricity more expensive so people won’t switch to EVs and the oil industry won’t lose its customers?
Either way, electricity prices are already rising and Trump’s actions are clearly making it worse. Doubtless, Republicans will try to point the finger at renewable energy when electricity prices spike over coming years, but the real causes should be clear: Trump’s reckless decisions to block new clean energy production, raise tariffs on the energy supply chain, export our natural gas and force customers to subsidize struggling coal plants.
Americans need abundant, affordable energy to power our homes and grow our economy, and we need leaders who know how to support the clean energy revolution, not try to stand in its way.
Josh Becker is a Democratic state senator from Menlo Park and chair of the California Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications.
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Ideas expressed in the piece
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The author argues that despite Trump’s campaign promise to “slash energy and electricity prices by half within 12 months,” the administration has instead implemented policies that will drive up electricity costs for American consumers.
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The author contends that Trump is blocking new clean energy development at a critical time when electricity demand is rapidly growing due to data centers, new housing, electric vehicles, and manufacturing expansion, noting that 96% of electricity capacity added in 2024 came from clean energy sources because they are the cheapest and fastest to produce.
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The author details how Trump raised taxes on clean energy projects by removing renewable energy tax credits through the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” creating bureaucratic obstacles by requiring personal approval from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for all clean energy permitting on federal lands, and issuing arbitrary “stop work” orders for offshore wind projects that were already approved and under construction.
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The author criticizes Trump’s cancellation of the Grain Belt Express transmission project, which would have carried low-cost wind and solar energy from the Great Plains to eastern states, and the gutting of federal agencies like the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office that finance innovative energy technologies.
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The author argues that Trump’s tariff policies have increased steel costs by up to 50%, making all forms of electricity generation more expensive, while simultaneously supporting increased natural gas exports that reduce domestic supply and raise prices for American consumers.
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The author concludes that Trump’s push to keep unprofitable coal plants operational could add between $3 billion and $6 billion annually to electricity bills, questioning whether this represents economic incompetence or a deliberate strategy to prevent consumers from switching to electric vehicles and preserve oil industry customers.
Different views on the topic
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The Trump administration frames its energy policies as essential for national security and economic prosperity, arguing that “burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens”[1][2].
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Administration officials emphasize that their executive orders are designed to “unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources” to “restore American prosperity,” particularly for workers who have been negatively impacted by previous energy policies[1][2].
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The administration has designated coal used in steel production as a “critical material,” with analysis concluding that metallurgical coal meets statutory criteria due to its unique properties and domestic supply chain vulnerabilities, positioning coal as essential for steelmaking, manufacturing, infrastructure, and energy security[1].
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The administration argues that nuclear energy expansion is crucial for national security, issuing executive orders aimed at quadrupling U.S. nuclear power capacity by 2050, with goals to facilitate five gigawatts of power uprates to existing nuclear reactors and have ten new large reactors under construction by 2030[1].
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Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie defended accelerated natural gas infrastructure development, stating that “new and expanded natural gas infrastructure is essential to help America avoid a grid reliability crisis,” leading to temporary waivers of rules that limited initial construction activities for natural gas facilities[1].
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The administration promotes the concept of “energy dominance,” suggesting that expanding domestic oil, gas, coal and nuclear production will create a favorable environment for these energy sectors, increase private investment, and strengthen America’s role in meeting both industrial and national security energy demands[1].