State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pallone for yielding the time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3628. I think we all know that our neighbors are really struggling with higher electric bills. They are really grappling with how to pay these higher costs.

Household electricity prices across America are up by 13 percent this year--17 percent in North Carolina and 15 percent in the State of Georgia. Folks really are at their wits' end because it is all coming down at once.

In Florida, the three largest investor-owned utilities have requested $34 billion in price hikes this year. Last month, the DeSantis- appointed utility commission approved a $7 billion rate hike for Florida Power & Light customers. FPL customers will be paying much more over the next few years.

In Tampa, I was with some neighbors who were burning their electric bills, throwing them into a garbage can, lighting them on fire because they are struggling to keep the lights on. If you are a TECO customer, you are going to be paying about $939 more annually than you were 5 years ago.

Madam Speaker, folks back home are really wondering: Can Congress get its act together to help lower the cost of living and work on solutions? I hate to report that, no, Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration have shown no interest in doing that or in tackling lower electric bills. In fact, they are making it worse.

Electric bills are going up for a number of reasons. Let's talk about it.

There is the big, ugly bill that Republicans passed in July. That is projected to raise electricity rates by 61 percent. Why? They took away a lot of the tax credits to speed cheaper energy onto the grid. They ripped away rebates to help consumers save money on their electric bills. They canceled a lot of jobs that were helping people pay the bills.

Then when we add on the arbitrary tariffs of the Trump administration, that has a significant cost. Projections are that the average household is going to pay about $1,600 more per year. Some estimates are up to about $2,000 a year. That is, yes, on our coffee and groceries and consumer goods. It is also impacting electric bills. We do import poles and wires and energy, and that is raising electric bills, too.

The Trump administration has also canceled billions of dollars' worth of cheaper, cleaner energy projects and solar projects in every State. No one has been immune to this. That has also fed into skyrocketing electric bills. All of this adds up.

We are looking at a healthcare cliff in just another couple of weeks. Congress has only one more week to act to reinstitute the ACA tax credits. That is 4.5 million Floridians who will face higher healthcare bills, in addition to what they are doing to higher electric bills and our groceries. I would say to American families that they deserve so much better than they are getting here.

This bill, H.R. 3628, amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act to four States to favor more expensive, dirty energy over cleaner, cheaper energy. It is a ridiculous requirement that they want to add, and it directly conflicts with the provisions in the law right now that require States to maintain a diverse portfolio of electricity and engage in prudent resource planning.

Who loves this? Oil and gas companies love it. Investor-owned utilities love it. They will profit at the expense of hardworking Americans. Energy generated by wind, solar, and stored in batteries is often cheaper. It should make up a substantial portion of our electricity portfolio.

Madam Speaker, we need to lower electric bills by speeding cleaner and cheaper energy to the grid, especially to meet rising demand, and to do it while we protect clean air and clean water. America cannot afford to turn its back on half of all of the new electricity that is poised to come onto the grid over the next 5 years.

We need a modern transmission system and a modern electric grid. We need to speed up clean energy and not throw a wrench in it and make people pay more back home. They are already paying too much.

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