Barrett: Congress Is Lowering Energy Costs. Michigan Needs to Follow Suit
In case you missed it, Congressman Tom Barrett (MI-07) wrote an op-ed published today in the Lansing State Journal discussing his work to unleash affordable, reliable American energy and lower utility bills for Michiganders, including reforms in the Working Families Tax Cuts. He contrasts that work to increase competition and choices with the state-level green energy mandates that Democrats passed in 2023 and that are projected to double electric bills for Michigan ratepayers.
You can read the op-ed here or below.
Michiganders know the increasing pain of paying the utility bills each month. Electric rates climb year after year, making it more expensive for working families to keep the lights on.
That’s why I’m fighting to bring prices down for the people of Michigan. In Congress, I’ve taken action to boost energy production, because increasing supply to meet residents’ needs will lower costs.
My Republican colleagues and I have unleashed American energy through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act and other common-sense reforms. We cut unnecessary regulations that limited production of reliable energy sources like oil and natural gas, and I’ve helped lead the bipartisan charge to reopen a reliable nuclear power plant in Michigan. We’re refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — the emergency fuel supply that President Joe Biden recklessly drew down.
We also ended the Biden administration’s handouts to favored energy special interests. These corporate welfare subsidies took Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars and gave them to wind and solar companies. The government shouldn’t be picking winners and losers, but Biden’s Green New Deal stifled competition on the taxpayer dime. Congressional Republicans ended these handouts, protecting taxpayer dollars and restoring a level playing field so the market can choose the best, most reliable, and most affordable energy sources.
Meanwhile, Michigan is stuck in the failed, costly policies of the past. Republicans in Congress voted to take the government’s thumb off the scale and increase competition and choices, but Michigan Democrats went the opposite direction. Despite the fact that Michigan already has the highest electricity rates in the Midwest, Democrats used their unified control of state government in 2023 to pass new laws requiring electricity production to use 100% green energy by 2040.
That means providers will have to spend billions of dollars to build more wind turbines and solar farms across the state, so Michigan residents will pay even higher electric rates to cover the green energy expenses. One study projects rates in our state will double because of these mandates. Michigan businesses will have higher rates, too, and customers can expect to see prices on everyday goods and services go up to offset these energy costs.
These mandates won’t just make energy less affordable, they’ll also make it less reliable at a time when Michigan already suffers some of the worst blackouts in the nation. Wind and solar power need the wind to blow and the sun to shine, so these energy sources can’t always generate electricity.
We need an all-of-the-above energy strategy focused on reliability and affordability. Wind and solar can play a role, and when I served in the Michigan Legislature, I introduced legislation to ensure utility companies fairly compensate homeowners with their own solar panels for sending extra power back to the grid.
Michigan Democrats chose to put all their eggs in a few baskets instead of cultivating a reliable, affordable, diverse energy portfolio. These mandates are a recipe for higher prices and more blackouts, and they’re made worse by the fact that Democrats stripped communities of local control over where wind and solar projects can go. We should be looking at what energy works best for working-class ratepayers, not politicians.
Now, the same politicians who voted to require 100% green energy, shut down reliable natural gas power plants, and raise electricity prices are pointing the finger and hoping Michigan families will forget why their utility bills are getting more expensive.
Congress is doing its job to lower costs and energize our economy. It’s time for the Michigan Legislature to do the same.