Report: Electricity Prices Soared 29.4% Since President Biden Took Office

A Wall Street Journal analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data determined electricity prices have soared 29.4%—or 50% higher than overall inflation—since President Biden took office on January 20th, 2021. A Fox Business report from last month similarly found energy costs are up 36.9% since January 2021.

“Do White House officials pay electric bills? They strangely keep saying the President’s climate agenda is reducing electric-power rates even as the cost of running your dishwasher is sky-rocketing, as illuminated by the Labor Department’s consumer-price index,” the WSJ observed. 

Electricity costs, the paper added, increased “13 times faster” under the Biden administration than at any other time over the last seven years. It not only blames Biden’s policies for higher costs but faults the Left’s net-zero agenda that forces the abrupt closure of reliable fossil fuel and nuclear plants to shift hastily to unreliable utility-scale solar and wind. 

The net-zero heavy Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the WSJ observed, will drive “baseload power plants out of business” and result in IRA subsidies increasing electric bills—leading businesses to pass higher costs to ratepayers through en-flation (environmental inflation). Simply put, this is Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) in action. I recently detailed this here at IWF: 

As we have observed, mandatory ESG reporting discourages investment in conventional energy and deters entrepreneurs from innovating—especially in energy and agriculture—due to higher start-up costs. In February, the Buckeye Institute reported that ESG net-zero policies—including mandating climate disclosure reporting—will, at minimum, increase farming operational costs by 34%. 

In February, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed the IRA’s climate provisions will cost $428 billion more than the original $369 billion price tag earmarked for solar, wind, and electric vehicle (EV) investments.

With the government tipping the scales to subsidized clean energy projects, Americans will have the cost of transition pressed onto them and see higher utility bills and gas prices. That’s why net-zero policies will prove unsustainable for both the economy and the environment. 

Learn more about net-zero policies HERE. Subscribe to the Center for Energy and Conservation’s newsletter, Clearing the Air, to stay in the loop.