By Tom Ervin
Now that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed its version of the budget reconciliation bill, the U.S. Senate gets its turn to pass its own version.
Let’s look at how the House bill is projected to impact South Carolina’s ratepayers.
The Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA) released a study May 15 by NERA Economics Consulting that projects electricity bills for businesses in South Carolina would increase by 17.1%, while residential electricity bills would increase by 11.5% between 2026 and 2032 if Congress repeals “technology neutral” clean-energy tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Under the bill passed by the House on May 22, energy projects would have to be underway practically immediately to collect the credits. Construction would have to begin within 60 days of the bill’s passage and produce electricity by the end of 2028.
South Carolina’s residential and small business ratepayers are already struggling financially due to the effects of inflation. The new tariffs on foreign imports that have been imposed by the current administration are projected to raise consumer prices even higher.
But higher electric bills are not the only adverse consequences for repealing the credits.
If the “big, beautiful bill” eliminates all federal tax credits for renewable energy, South Carolina’s residents and small businesses will not only suffer from increased electricity bills but would lose 4,860 jobs and suffer a $620 million decrease in our state’s gross domestic product, according to the NERA study.
A better solution would be for the Senate to preserve the Inflation Reduction Act’s federal tax credits to bring more affordable sources of energy like solar with battery storage.
The traditional knock on solar is that it’s intermittent. Investor-owned utilities claim that solar is not available at night or on cloudy days. But if solar is paired with battery storage, that would make additional power available when needed to meet unexpected demand.
Expanding energy efficiency programs also makes good financial sense.
Energy efficiency programs would help reduce South Carolina’s need to build more new generating plants which would help in reducing ratepayers’ electric bills.
But investor-owned utilities had rather build expensive nuclear and gas plants because they result in higher profits for their shareholders. That’s exactly why the utility companies aren’t enthusiastic about expanding energy efficiency programs or connecting more renewable energy to the grid.
This House bill would also add trillions more to our federal debt.
Several U.S. senators are already complaining about how this House bill would increase our national debt.
In April, GOP Sens. John Curtis of Utah, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune arguing against the repeal of energy tax credits.
These senators pointed out that the House bill would undermine the administration’s efforts to increase manufacturing here in the United States. They also expressed concerns that repealing the credits would cause an immediate increase in electric utility bills.
Let’s hope that the Senate will carefully examine these flaws in the House bill.
The best path forward for our state and our nation is for Congress to keep the original investment tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act to incentivize additional renewable energy.
It’s just common sense to incentivize investments in lower-cost energy projects.
Investments in renewable energy will help reduce the federal debt, reduce wasteful spending, reduce harmful emissions and create thousands of new clean energy jobs in South Carolina.
Tom Ervin of Greenville is a retired Circuit Court judge and a former commissioner on the South Carolina Public Service Commission.
