U.S. Utility Industry Urges Trump Administration to Retain Clean Energy and EV Tax Credits

By Valerie Volcovici
BAKU (Reuters) – The U.S. utility industry is advocating for the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress to maintain clean energy and electric vehicle (EV) tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to Pedro Pizarro, CEO of Edison International.

The IRA, passed in 2022, provides extensive subsidies for clean energy and is viewed as a key legislative measure by outgoing President Joe Biden to address climate change. President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed skepticism about climate issues, aims to abolish the IRA, an action requiring Congressional support.

Pizarro, who recently served as chair of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), stated that the industry group is actively convincing Trump’s transition team and Republican lawmakers to protect the IRA, emphasizing the benefits for both businesses and consumers. He remarked, "One of our big priorities as an industry is going to be to articulate the benefits of the IRA. Most of those (IRA) benefits don't actually accrue to our shareholders. They go straight to our builds and down to our customers."

Recently, reports indicated that Trump's team is formulating plans to eliminate the $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle purchases as part of a wider tax reform strategy. Similarly, a coalition representing significant EV and battery manufacturers, including Rivian, Tesla, and Panasonic, has also cautioned Trump against removing these tax incentives, especially concerning their implications for Republican-supporting states.

Dan Brouillette, the former energy secretary under Trump, left his role as CEO of EEI on October 28, shortly before the elections, and is now collaborating with the transition team on energy policy decisions.

Pizarro stressed that it is vital for EEI members, which encompass both U.S. and international investor-owned utilities like AES, Duke Energy, and Southern Company, to retain IRA tax credits linked to energy storage, transmission, nuclear power, hydrogen, and EVs for sustained growth. "It's really across the board," Pizarro noted.

EEI plans to actively engage with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to promote the benefits of the IRA in the coming months. "We'll be very active there, just explaining the benefits of the IRA," he reported.