- Energy costs, in the form of residential electric rates, are up approximately 31% since President Joe Biden signed the IRA in August of 2022.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was in North Carolina Thursday, visiting Wake Tech Community College to highlight what the Biden-Harris administration sees as the positive impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
At Wake Tech, Yellen said the IRA is lowering energy costs for North Carolinians, pointing out the federal funding the community college received and put toward electric vehicle training programs and advanced building technologies.
Sold, as its title suggests, as a means to lower inflation pressures on American producers and consumers, the IRA is now embraced as the most far-reaching climate legislation in US history.
Energy costs, in the form of residential electric rates, are up approximately 31% since President Joe Biden signed the IRA in August of 2022. Rates were approximately $0.104 per kWh in Jan. 2021, when Biden took office. In March of 2024 those rates hit $0.156, a total energy cost increase of approximately 50% during the Biden’s term.
Before Yellen took the stage, Democrat Reps. Wiley Nickel, NC-13, and Deborah Ross, NC-2, gave remarks focused on the IRA’s massive funding outlays for green energy initiatives.
“The IRA, which has already given millions of working families more breathing room in their budget every month,” said Nickel, referencing subsidies and clean energy tax credits. He went on to say, “far too many” of his constituents are facing an uphill battle when it comes to their finances.
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“We know that climate change is real and I’m so glad that Wake Tech has a sustainable campus that recognizes that,” asserted Ross to open her remarks. “We also know that its effects are real; from scorching heat waves, which we even had last week, to destructive hurricanes, North Carolinians understand the disastrous consequences of rising global temperatures for our state and our country —and that’s why the Inflation Reduction Act is so important.”
Ross said, through the IRA, North Carolina has an opportunity to do even more to harness solar, electric, and offshore wind energy projects. Relatedly, Duke Energy just updated their Carbon Plan due to unexpectedly high costs projections due to demand growth and the high costs of meeting emissions reduction goals.
In introducing Secretary Yellen, Cooper boasted about North Carolina’s community college system before reinforcing the green agenda of the Biden-Harris administration.
“We’re so grateful for the Biden Harris Administration and the generational Investments that have been made to allow us to recruit these companies and to help us get here,” said Cooper.
He went on to describe the close partnership his office had with the Biden administration in administering programs to subsidize and connect all corners of the state to high-speed internet.
“When the internet started we understood and the pandemic made it more apparent than ever that we have to have high-speed internet, all over our state for educational purposes for medicine, for job opportunities, for small businesses, we had to do it,” said Cooper.
As of June, Biden’s $42 billion broadband program had reportedly not connected a single household to the internet.
In taking the stage, Yellen highlighted the Biden-Harris administration’s work on the economy and tackling high costs for Americans via the IRA.
“I’d like to focus today on the progress we’re making through the Inflation Reduction Act to bring down costs for American families and to invest in clean energy industries that will drive our country’s growth,” opened Yellen. “Our Administration has driven an historic economic recovery and today, the US economy is strong. Inflation has also significantly declined. That said, our Administration knows that prices for key household expenses, things like health care, housing, energy — they’re still too high.”
She highlighted Wake Tech’s utilization of clean energy credits and clean energy technology training programs, namely their Electric Vehicle (EV) charging technician class.
“Wake Tech has continued to lead by using federal funds to launch new training for jobs in the electric vehicle industry and an advanced building technologies,” Yellen pointed out.
The Biden administration has take criticism recently for the “painfully slow” rollout of their EV charging stations initiative.
Following her remarks, Yellen was joined by Cooper and local business leaders for a discussion on the Biden-Harris administration’s economic agenda, with a continued focus on promoting the clean energy and manufacturing core of the IRA.
In recent polls, North Carolinians reported inflation, together with jobs and the economy, remain their top issues of concern going into the 2024 general election.