Why Does the President Want You to Pay Higher Utility Bills?

Since 1992, the Energy Star program has been saving American households and businesses billions of dollars every year on their utility bills. Seriously. According to its 2024 report from the program—a joint effort between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy—it’s saved homeowners and businesses an estimated $500 billion and 5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity usage since its inception. It saves a total of $40 billion a year for American households. Forty billion!

Seems like a pretty great program to me. So why on Earth is the Trump Administration planning to ax it?

Good question! The truth is that there’s not really a good, logical answer other than the whims of a President who made complaining about shower heads and energy-efficient appliances a regular part of his stump speech in three elections. Then again, I never thought the executive branch would be cutting cancer research or weather forecasting. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but here we are.

Why Shut Down Energy Star?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that it would be shutting down the popular Energy Star program. The news was shared with employees during a May 5 staff meeting, and the story broke a day later. It’s being done as part of the Trump administration’s gutting of Federal agencies and, ostensibly, to scale back environmental regulations. However, shutting down this incredibly popular, beneficial program goes hand-in-hand with the disastrous tariffs will do nothing but hurt average consumers like you and me.

Trump signed an executive order right after his inauguration this year, calling for the scaling back of energy-saving programs. News of the EPA planning to eliminate Energy Star would seem to flow directly from that.

This would be an incredibly dumb move. Whatever you think of environmental regulations, the Energy Star program saves American households money on their power bills. Personally, I like to save money! And this is one of those less flashy public-private partnerships that actually has a real impact on our everyday lives.

What Makes Energy Star So Great?

Let’s do a little simple math. The Energy Star program costs about $32 million per year, less than one percent of the EPA’s budget. All that nets an annual savings of about $40 billion—with a ‘B’—for average consumers like you and me.

Now, I was not a math major, but as a typical middle-class homeowner, I understand a fairly simple equation like that: a small investment yields big savings. To use a very appropriate analogy, think of it like replacing the old 1980s appliances in the house you bought with more efficient models. Over time, you’ll see the impact such a move has on your bottom line—smaller utility bills.

But the benefits don’t stop there! Households can qualify for up to $3,200 a year in tax credits through the Energy Star program for making various upgrades to their home, everything from swapping out those appliances to installing new heat pumps or hot water heaters.

Lower utility bills? A smaller tax bill? What’s not to like!

Is There Anything We Can Do to Save Energy Star?

Energy Star hasn’t been officially cut yet. But given the Trump administration’s insistence on slashing beneficial Federal programs like this one, it’s probably just a matter of time before it does.

Fortunately, a lot of people aren’t ready to see the program go away.

In April, more than 1,000 entities—ranging from construction companies to nonprofits to cities and counties—sent EPA administrator Lee Zeldin a letter urging the agency keep Energy Star in place.

In addition to the statistics laid out above about the relatively small cost of the program compared to its massive benefits, the letter also noted that for every dollar spent by the Feds on Energy Star, consumers save $350.

The point is that Energy Star is an incredible bargain for Americans. Hopefully, the message from such a wide array of businesses and organizations will have some effect.

But here’s my advice. Don’t just hope that this letter does its job. Get on the phone and call your local member of Congress and your state’s Senators to urge them to keep the Energy Star program intact. This administration tends to back off some of its terrible, costly ideas when challenged publicly. If the people representing your district find their phone lines flooded with calls demanding their support for a program that saves households money, they might just find their spine and do the right thing.

The post Why Does the President Want You to Pay Higher Utility Bills? appeared first on Family Handyman.

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