EEI congratulates the House leadership on today’s passage of H.R. 2454. Our members have worked for more than two years on a framework to help guide the U.S. toward a low-carbon future, while also helping mitigate the costs of that transition to our customers of all types—small and large, rural, urban, and suburban.

In particular, we commend the House for taking the critically important step of allocating—rather than auctioning—some of the emissions allowances required, which is absolutely essential to helping reduce increases in electricity prices, without jeopardizing any environmental progress.

To further mitigate higher costs to customers, we will be working to seek additional improvements as the legislation moves over to the Senate. The near- and mid-term greenhouse gas reduction targets and timetables are very aggressive and need to be modified to provide for a less costly transition for our customers. We strongly support inclusion of a price “collar” on the cost of emissions allowances, which would further protect consumers, help reduce price volatility, and prevent market manipulation. We also support extending the phase-out period for the allocation of allowances so consumers would not experience abrupt rate increases in the future.

We look forward to continuing discussions with leadership in both the House and the Senate to strengthen provisions that will help achieve our mutual objectives.