Energy prices and grid reliability remain central issues in U.S. energy policy debates, according to an op-ed by Congressman Brett Guthrie, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, published in the Washington Examiner.
Guthrie argues that energy costs have continued to rise since the Biden administration, attributing these increases to policies favoring renewable sources like wind and solar. He contends that Democratic claims blaming Republican policies for higher prices are unfounded.
“The energy prices that dramatically increased during the Biden administration are continuing to rise, and the attempts by Democrats to pin the increase on President Donald Trump’s policies willfully ignore how their reckless decisions during the previous administration have led us here," Guthrie wrote.
He states that recent tax legislation removes subsidies from certain renewable energy initiatives, which he believes were responsible for increasing household costs. “Since the Working Families Tax Cuts was signed into law, Democrats have tried to claim that Republican policies would cause energy prices to rise for families. This is false. The legislation strips subsidies for parts of the far-left energy agenda that have been driving up prices. On the contrary, the tax cuts law will save the average household $2,900 in 2026.”
Guthrie further claims that reliance on intermittent power sources requires maintaining backup systems powered by natural gas or coal. “The truth is that building the electricity grid on unreliable, taxpayer-subsidized wind and solar — as Democrats have advocated for the last decade — has driven up costs. As energy producers and grid operators have told us in hearings this year, subsidizing intermittent sources of electricity essentially requires building two systems to keep the lights on. One is the costly wind and solar system touted by liberal donors and the renewable energy lobby. The other is a reliable backup system necessary for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.”
He also criticizes regulatory actions taken under both Obama and Biden administrations, stating they restricted fossil fuel generation while promoting renewables: “Subsidies for wind and solar projects, as well as regulations aimed at hampering natural gas and coal generation, have been driving up rates and undermining reliability. It was the Biden administration that restricted energy supplies, forced the end of fossil fuel generation in favor of costly intermittent power, and failed to provide for increased demand from artificial intelligence data centers, advanced manufacturing, and the growing consumer economy.”
According to Guthrie's account of committee hearings with grid operators this year, there is concern about retiring traditional baseload plants while adding more renewables: “The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has heard testimony from grid operators that the current imbalance in the grid, caused by retirements of reliable generation and a massive oversupply of intermittent wind and solar, is unsustainable...”
He references a Department of Energy report warning about possible increases in outages if plant retirements continue amid rising demand from sectors such as AI data centers.
To address these challenges, Guthrie highlights provisions within recent tax legislation designed to support continuous power sources: “That is why the Working Families Tax Cuts created the Energy Dominance Financing Program, investing in projects that provide power 24/7, 365 days a year.”
Guthrie concludes by emphasizing Republican efforts to shift away from what he describes as unreliable renewables toward more stable forms of power generation: “By ending costly subsidies for unreliable sources...Republicans are making sure America gets ‘best of above’ energy for a balanced reliable grid...Alongside our president House Republicans are working to restore reliable abundant energy lower electricity costs and restore America’s energy dominance.”
