WASHINGTON (January 04, 2022) —
Edison Electric Institute (EEI) President Tom Kuhn released the following statement today, calling on Congress to continue its work to pass legislation that incorporates forward-thinking actions to address climate change, including a robust clean energy tax package, that will deliver significant long-term benefits for electricity customers.
“EEI and our member companies—America’s investor-owned electric companies—believe it is essential to take action to tackle climate change, while also delivering the reliable and affordable energy that powers our nation’s economy and our way of life.
“We congratulate Congress for working together in a bipartisan fashion to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which provides significant investments in critical energy infrastructure and new carbon-free technologies and includes a solid down payment on the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure needed to accelerate the electrification of the transportation sector.
“While this law advances transformational change for America’s infrastructure and promotes jobs, much more is needed. We remain hopeful that Congress can reach agreement on additional legislation that incorporates forward-thinking actions to address climate change, including a robust clean energy tax package, as clean energy tax credits are a powerful tool in lowering energy prices for customers.
“Today, 40 percent of our electricity comes from clean, carbon-free sources, and EEI’s member companies are making significant progress in reducing their carbon emissions. In fact, carbon emissions from the electric power sector are at their lowest level in more than 40 years and will continue to fall.
“We strongly believe that we can accelerate to a cleaner energy future faster if the right tax policies are in place, allowing electric companies to achieve even deeper carbon reductions while preserving electric reliability and affordability for the customers and communities they serve.
“To that end, we urge Congress to support technology-neutral tax policies and to pass legislation that provides optionality in choosing between the production tax credit (PTC) and investment tax credit (ITC) for solar; alternatives to normalization for regulated electric companies; 100-percent direct pay for the clean energy credits; a nuclear PTC for existing facilities; new tax credits for storage, transmission, and hydrogen; and expansion of the EV tax credit/EV infrastructure credit.
“The suite of tax incentives currently under consideration will create a level playing field that recognizes the role of electric companies in deploying more clean energy and will help to preserve the existing nuclear fleet, so new clean energy deployments contribute to additional emission reductions. Importantly, they allow companies to make choices about what technologies they deploy, while balancing reliability and resilience. In addition, including 100-percent direct pay as an option for all the credits recognizes the importance of delivering these technologies to customers in an affordable way. They also would mean union work and union jobs.
“EEI and our member companies are well-positioned to be part of the climate change solution, and we remain committed to working with Congress to advance the policies that we need to get this done.”
