Inside The White House Obsession With Reducing Energy Prices

The White House has zeroed in on energy prices as a political and economic pressure point heading into this year’s midterms, ordering an all-of-government accounting of how the administration can make electricity cheaper for American households.

In early December, officials across the government were asked to assemble a comprehensive briefing on the administration’s actions on energy affordability — a sign that lowering electricity and fuel costs has become a top priority for President Donald Trump with control of the House on the line as midterm elections approach.

That briefing was delivered by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Jarrod Agen, executive director of the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council. The trio walked Trump and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles through the administration’s strategy and upcoming actions, according to a person familiar with the presentation who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Those steps include small bore items like rolling back appliance efficiency standards — a nod to Trump’s obsession with criticizing things like low-flow toilets — to major efforts aimed at boosting power generation, easing grid constraints and cutting regulatory compliance costs, according to notes on the briefing obtained by POLITICO.

That playbook reflects Trump’s long-standing belief that energy abundance will translate into lower prices as the administration confronts growing unrest about affordability. Indeed, the price of gasoline – currently sitting at $2.80 cents per gallon, according to AAA, is one of several retorts Trump and his administration deploys when faced with questions about Americans’ dissatisfaction with the rising cost of living.

"Every week you fill up your gas tank, you got more money in your pocket to buy your kids presents and pay your bills," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said during a December interview with FOX Business. "This is what happens when the American public elects a president who cares about their pocketbook, cares about American people and not special interests or the climate crazies.”

“Lowering energy prices for American families and businesses is a top priority for President Trump,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement. “Americans know that energy is key to everything from powering manufacturing to heating homes to fueling commutes to work. The Trump Administration will continue to aggressively implement President Trump’s energy dominance agenda because cheaper energy can unleash unprecedented growth in every facet of our economy.”

Beyond appliances, steps the administration is taking include invoking emergency authorities to prevent the retirement of power plants deemed critical to grid reliability, and reversing Biden-era policies that administration officials say drove up costs without clear consumer benefits.

The White House has also moved to withdraw from a Biden administration memorandum of understanding related to the Snake River hydroelectric dams, a decision the administration estimates could save between $400 million and $800 million.

But some of those items may only have modest impacts on Americans’ wallets, or take years or longer to realize. And even administration officials privately acknowledge that reducing electricity prices is a difficult and slow process. Power bills – which have risen far faster than overall inflation – are shaped by a complex array of factors, from weather-driven consumption to the mix of fuel costs, aging infrastructure, utility investment cycles that can take years to unwind.

"The structural reasons driving up utility bills are related to the grid and extreme weather, and there's an opportunity for the federal government, any administration, to really prioritize solutions that tackle those issues, and that would be necessary to bring down costs for consumers, given that those are the biggest drivers," said Charles Hua, founder of Powerlines, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on lowering utility bills.

"I’m not seeing that. I don't necessarily know if they're having some of those discussions sort of behind the scenes, but I have not necessarily seen those actions yet," he said.

Natural gas prices remain volatile, and the grid is facing new strains from rising demand and the uneven pace of new power plant construction.

While regulatory rollbacks can help lower long-term costs, they rarely produce immediate, visible savings on monthly bills, especially in states where electricity rates are set through lengthy public utility commission processes.

Still, the White House is betting that a visible, aggressive focus on energy will resonate with voters uneasy about costs, and that incremental savings, combined with a broader affordability message, will help Republicans' chances heading into November.

Other elements of the strategy focus on shoring up the nation’s power supply to meet the demand expected to be generated from the rollout of a host of new AI data centers. The administration has funded restarts of mothballed fossil fuel plants, reduced permitting requirements for natural gas pipelines, and is allowing data centers and other large power consumers to rely more heavily on backup generators.

Officials are also seeking to beef up wildfire mitigation efforts to reduce costly outages, directing the Energy Dominance Finance office (the renamed Loan Programs Office) to prioritize financing for reliable generation and transmission, and pressuring regulators to speed up interconnections to the power grid for large energy users like data centers that are developing their own power sources. One recent order directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to fast-track approvals for co-located generation at data centers.

Taken together, the push reflects Trump’s broader energy agenda: maximize domestic production, cut regulation and emphasize fossil fuels as a backbone of affordability and reliability.

The administration has already reversed or weakened several of Biden-era climate and environmental rules, arguing that they constrained supply.