Senators Cortez Masto, Rosen Announce Over $15M To Help Nevadans Pay Skyrocketing Energy Costs

Today, U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) announced that Nevada will receive over $15 million in funding they secured through the most recent government funding bill and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help Nevada families lower/pay their skyrocketing energy bills, prevent energy shutoffs, restore services, make energy-related home repairs, and make homes more energy efficient.

“Lowering costs is one of my top priorities, and I’m proud to see these funds I helped secure coming into Nevada to help working families afford their energy bills,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “I’ll continue fighting in the Senate to ensure Nevadans have access to this lifeline.”

“High energy costs are squeezing hardworking Nevada families, and I’m fully committed to doing everything I can to provide some relief,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m proud to have helped secure this funding to help lower energy costs for Nevadans.”

In their announcement Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen charge that Big Oil is colluding and price fixing to gauge Nevadans. Yet, legislation signed by the Democratic legislature and former Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak has forced energy companies to raise consumer prices to convert the last coal plant in Nevada to natural gas and invest nearly $2 billion to increase solar capacity and decrease carbon emissions.

In August 2023, The Globe reported:

Nevadans should prepare for increasing energy bills to fund new transmission lines and renewable energy needs for NV Energy as the company will convert the last coal plant in Nevada to natural gas and invest $1.8 billion to increase solar capacity to power the Sphere and reduce NV Energy’s carbon emissions. Coal generated power in Nevada is expected to end by May 2026.

This proposal from NV Energy comes on the heels of an announcement between Sphere Entertainment and NV Energy whereby the companies reached a 25-year agreement to provide the highest amount of dedicated solar power to the new venue making the Sphere “a model for renewable energy use by entertainment venues around the country,” according to Sphere.

This shift to renewables by NV Energy is due to Nevadans passing a constitutional amendment, designed and introduced by then-Democratic state senator and solar entrepreneur Senator Chris Brooks, to require electric utilities to acquire 50 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2030.

The bipartisan passage of Senate Bill 358 in 2019 was met with a 2023 executive order issued by Governor Joe Lombardo which highlights that state energy policies “must pursue a balanced approach to energy use and development” and support “Nevada’s objectives of reliability, affordability, and sustainability.”

The Senators also touted their support of the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act that are helping lower home energy costs for families in Nevada and across the country.” Yet, the “so-called” Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was seemingly the Green New Deal in drag.

In May, the Committee on Oversight and  Accountability released a scathing report (see below) noting that subsidies, like this $15M windfall to help Nevadans pay their electricity bills, will end up costing taxpayers $3 trillion by the year 2050.

Federal subsidies in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will cost taxpayers millions. On March 12, 2024, the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs held a hearing featuring testimony from an expert witness who explained how the IRA will distort markets and estimated that IRA production tax credits could cost taxpayers $3 trillion by the year 2050.

While Committee Democrats continue to demonize America’s energy producers in the oil and gas industry, the Biden Administration’s electrification push is rapidly driving up electricity prices for all Americans. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has indicated that over the past year electricity prices have risen faster than the pace of inflation and more so than any other commodity. Sweeping electrification initiatives—such as for electric vehicles (EVs) in the automotive sector—scaling of artificial intelligence utilization, enormous data center expansions, and federal incentivization of onshore manufacturing in the industrial sector, have dramatically increased the demand facing our nation’s electrical grid.

Another $15 million of taxpayer money is now being sent back to Nevadans to help with skyrocketing costs due to massive government spending and onerous regulations that Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen supported. Applying Occam’s razor, the explanation of skyrocketing costs is likely the simplest one.

Nevadans interested in applying for energy assistance through LIHEAP can visit www.energyhelp.us or call (866) 674-6327.