While plenty of details of President Trump’s recently passed spending bill remain murky to many Americans, the concern among most is the same: ‘Is this going to impact my bank account?’ According to some experts, the answer is ‘yes’.
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis joined WWL’s Tommy Tucker to discuss how the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” could impact the monthly energy costs of Louisiana residents. According to Lewis, most households in the state stand to be adversely affected and could see costs rise going forward. Lewis explained why energy costs could go up by almost $800 per year under the new bill.
“The energy portion of this bill is problematic for utility companies. We’re looking, in Louisiana alone, at about an 11% increase in utility bills and this is why: they are rolling back the tax credits that help produce power plants,” notes Lewis.
“If we look into the past year alone, 90% of all new power generation that was brought online was from wind, solar, or battery power. Now, they’re going to phase out the tax credit for those energy structures unless you start construction by the end of 2027," says Lewis. "The overall prediction across the nation is a 7.5% increase on your utility costs from this bill alone,” Lewis went on to explain.
Lewis emphasized that the hope is not for gas exploration to go away, but for it to be paired with other technologies to keep costs down.
“What we’re recognizing right now is that gas generation is harder to build and more expensive," Lewis says. "But, you can have intermediate resources like solar and wind that help from keeping your gas generators from having to expand their life span and keep their costs down. It’s about using all these resources at the most effective time to keep costs down for the consumer.”
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