THE DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The Biden-Harris administration released data earlier this month suggesting its push to electrify everything will ratchet up costs for American households, contradicting one of the White House’s favorite selling points for its green agenda, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Biden-Harris administration has cracked down on residential fossil fuel consumption, a key aspect of its environmental strategy, justifying the push in part on the grounds that electrification will lower energy costs.
Now, residential energy price data released Oct. 17 by the Department of Energy shows electricity was roughly four times as expensive as natural gas in 2024, with experts telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that the White House’s electrification push is an example of extremist climate policy that hurts everyday Americans.
“The Department of Energy has consistently shown that natural gas is a much cheaper energy source for households than electricity,” Daren Bakst, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, said.
“Government policies trying to block the use of natural gas in favor of electricity will significantly drive up prices, making home heating and appliance use needlessly expensive,” Bakst said. “The poor will get hurt the most because, compared to higher-income households, they spend a greater share of their household income on meeting basic needs such as staying warm in the winter.”
The Biden-Harris Energy Department has issued a slew of rules restricting the use of gas appliances, including revised standards for furnaces in September 2023 that could prohibit 40% to 60% of gas furnaces in homes, and increased efficiency requirements for water heaters that the agency claimed would save U.S. consumers $11.4 billion on energy and water bills every year.
The Oct. 17 data shows electricity was significantly more expensive than fossil fuels, with a price of $47.36 per million British Thermal Units compared to $13.38 and $33.59 per million BTU for natural gas and propane, respectively.
Thus, according to the Biden-Harris administration’s own data, switching from gas-powered appliances to electric appliances could increase utility costs by over 3.5 times, in addition to heightened installation costs.
“One of the most offensive bait-and-switch moves being played by officials in Washington, D.C., and coastal enclaves is the push to force electric appliances on everyone, everywhere, even when natural gas can often be dramatically cheaper,” O.H. Skinner, executive director of the Alliance for Consumers and former solicitor general of Arizona, told the Daily Caller News Foundation
“The officials push the idea that bans on gas stoves, or gas furnaces, or other gas appliances will save on energy costs, but at the same time they have evidence that natural gas is cheaper,” Skinner said, adding, “It’s time that officials in D.C. stopped trying to micromanage people’s lives and make everyone hew to a one size fits all approach to their homes.”
Energy sector expert Robert Bryce accused the Biden-Harris administration of purposely delaying the release of the price data Oct. 3, citing the fact that, at least since 2011, the Energy Department otherwise hasn’t published the information any later than August.
At the time—two weeks before the data was published—Bryce predicted the agency was stonewalling because the cost figures would reflect the high costs of electricity relative to fossil fuels, which has proven to be accurate.
“This electrification push is a typical example of climate extremism,” Bakst said. “There’s little to no consideration of how these policies will hurt Americans and the poor.”
An “electrification summit” held by the White House in December 2022 included the nongovernmental organization Rewiring America, which previously has stated its goal is to “electrify everything.”
The Energy Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation