For far too long, families across Pennsylvania have been forced to make impossible choices. From the Mon Valley to the Delaware River, our neighbors are struggling under the weight of skyrocketing electricity bills while simultaneously facing the renewed threat of increased pollution.
Governor Josh Shapiro used his annual budget address earlier this month to discuss the affordability crisis, offering a vision that would lower costs at a moment when the federal government, under Donald Trump, is driving prices up even higher.
His continued commitment to the Solar for Schools program is an example of common-sense path toward a cleaner, more resilient commonwealth, particularly when paired with protecting working class families from utility shutoffs in the face of skyrocketing energy bills.
Perhaps most urgently, the governor’s address named the dysfunction within our energy grid. His solution, like the Lightning Plan to modernize the grid and boost clean electricity are necessary, overdue steps toward long-term rate relief. He also acknowledged the emerging challenge of data centers, for the first time proposing principles that would require these massive energy consumers to bring their own power to the grid. This helps ensure that big tech doesn’t boost their profits on the backs of working families who are already struggling to pay their mortgages.
However, as we have seen too often in Harrisburg, a vision is not a policy, and a proposal is not progress until it is signed into law. For too long, these initiatives have languished in the halls of the Capitol while the people they are meant to help continue to pay the price.
The stakes have never been higher. At the federal level, Donald Trump’s policies are actively jacking up energy prices while rolling back the rules that keep our environment safe. Pennsylvania must lead the counter-offensive against these rollbacks, yet we are currently fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
Last year’s state budget included a devastating, anti-environment trade off that blocked our participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) — the single most powerful tool we had to lower energy costs and hold polluters accountable.
Without RGGI, the responsibility falls squarely on the governor and the legislature to work together and find new, effective ways to provide relief. We cannot afford the status quo of legislative gridlock any longer.
READ: As Electricity Costs Rise, Everyone Wants Data Centers to Pick up Their Tab. But How?
The governor has famously promised to “get stuff done” for Pennsylvania. But for a parent looking at a utility bill they can’t afford, or a community facing increased toxic emissions from a nearby plant, “getting stuff done” means more than just a good speech in February. It means delivering results by the time the final budget is signed this summer.
Our elected officials must work together to bring these affordability and clean energy solutions over the finish line this budget cycle. The time for rhetoric is over — we need Harrisburg to deliver the clean, affordable energy future our citizens deserve.
In the coming months, Pennsylvanians will be watching closely, and they will judge their leaders — not on the promises they made going into budget season but on the results they actually deliver.
