Day: October 9, 2025

The government’s own data rebuts Trump’s claims about wind and solar prices

The Trump administration has targeted renewable energy for driving up electricity prices, but POLITICO’s analysis shows states that are growing their wind and solar power typically have lower power costs. Farmland with solar panels is pictured.

Utility prices are on the rise around the country, and the Trump administration is pulling the plug on new renewable energy sources. | Julio Cortez/AP By Zack Colman and Catherine Allen10/07/2025 05:00 AM EDT

States that embrace renewable energy are far more likely to save money for electricity consumers than those relying on fossil fuels or nuclear power, a POLITICO analysis of federal and industry data shows — findings that undermine one of the Trump administration’s main justifications for its aggressive rollback of federal clean energy policies.

POLITICO’s analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration power price data contradicts arguments by President Donald Trump and his appointees that a heavy dependence on wind and solar power drives up electricity prices. Trump repeated that claim in his speech late last month to the United Nations, describing wind as the “most expensive energy ever conceived” and contending that “all green is all bankrupt.”

“We’re getting rid of the falsely named renewables,” said Trump, whose agencies have wiped out tens of billions of dollars in Biden-era clean energy and climate spending while pushing for more production of oil, natural gas and coal. “By the way, they’re a joke. They don’t work. They’re too expensive.”

The data from Trump’s own administration shows a much different picture, reflecting a sizable drop in wind and power costs during the past two decades.

Among the 22 states that drew higher-than-average shares of their power from wind and solar, 17 had below-average electricity prices in June, according to EIA data.

Those states defied the red-blue state paradigm: Thirteen of those green-heavy, low-cost states backed Trump in 2024.