A new analysis claims that President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will result in rising energy costs across the country and could put nearly a million Americans out of work.
That’s according to a new report from Energy Innovation Policy and Technology, a California firm that claims to provide “non-partisan research and analysis” of clean energy initiatives nationwide.
The Trump-backed bill would repeal clean energy tax credits for renewables and add a new tax on wind and solar power. Energy Innovation claims the combo will make domestic energy production more costly. The think tank says the knock-on effects of this bill — fewer power plants being built and less energy being generated —would raise the costs for the average household in 2030 by $160 per year.
“Wholesale electricity prices will increase 19 percent by 2030 and 61 percent by 2035,” the report notes.
The report also forecasts a massive job loss in numerous sectors, such as manufacturing and construction. Seven hundred seventy thousand jobs may be lost by 2030, with an additional increase to roughly 900,000 in 2032..
“There are all these effects. I’m very nervous,” Robbie Orvis of Energy Innovation told Salon.
Speaking with Salon, Orvis said that the bill’s effects on the U.S. pose an “existential risk” to the country. He envisions a nightmare scenario in which capital flees the country while the U.S. sees the “highest demand for electricity in history.”
“What’s happening here is going to be really damaging to credibility of the US to bring in big investors,” Orvis told Salon. “What does it mean to bank on what Congress passes as law if they can go back on it,” he said. “What developer is going to come in and bank on those credits?”
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