Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday said the Trump administration’s energy policies will lower electricity prices over the course of the president’s term as part of the White House’s efforts to address Americans’ affordability concerns.
Wright appeared on “Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream” and told guest host Jacqui Heinrich that President Donald Trump’s policies are reversing actions taken by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, that had a negative impact on electricity costs.
“We’re doing everything we can to stop that rise in electricity prices that was driven by Biden policies, and yes, there’s inertia that continues on,” Wright said.
“But very soon, you’ll see a stop of the rise of electricity prices. And with the continuation of Trump policies of energy addition, you will see declines in electricity prices later this term,” he added.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent consumer price index (CPI) report showed that in September, electricity prices were up 5.1% compared with a year ago despite decreasing by 0.5% on a monthly basis.
Rising demand for electricity from data centers used to power artificial intelligence (AI) tools has contributed to the increase in electricity prices, which has prompted a push to increase the supply of energy from a variety of sources.
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“So, I think President Trump’s policies of pro-energy, energy addition versus energy subtraction of the Biden administration have been immediately effective in gasoline, in diesel, in other fuels,” Wright said.
“But the electricity sector is a big, complicated machine that, for four years, the Biden administration shut down coal plants, shut down natural gas plants. Heck, I was just out in Washington state. They were going to dismantle four hydroelectric dams. So, we’ve stopped digging the hole. We’ve stopped the closure of coal plants. You’ll hear more on that later this week,” he added.
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This summer, the Energy Department withdrew from a Biden-era policy memorandum that advanced the possibility of breaching four hydroelectric dams on the Snake River in Washington.
The four dams provide over 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power generating capacity, which the Energy Department said is enough to generate power for 2.5 million American homes.
The Trump administration raised concerns that their removal “would have doubled the region’s risk of power shortages, driven wholesale electricity rates up by as much as 50%, and cost as much as $31.3 billion to replace.”
Though the Biden administration was considering the removal of the dams as part of the memorandum of understanding, which also included requirements to replace services provided by the Lower Snake River dams, the decision would ultimately lie with Congress.
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