As electricity demand surges across the United States, a growing political fight is emerging over whether federal policy is making power more expensive for everyday Americans.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg this week accused the Trump administration of deliberately driving up electricity costs by stalling or killing energy generation projects, particularly wind and solar developments that were once considered routine to approve.
“Let’s be clear: when the Trump administration kills or stalls energy generation projects, that’s the White House choosing to make your electricity more expensive,” Buttigieg wrote in a post on X. “Americans deserve better.”
His remarks come as a New York Times investigation details how federal agencies have slowed or frozen approvals for hundreds of renewable energy projects nationwide, even as utilities warn that electricity demand is rising faster than supply.
A Quiet Freeze On Renewable Power
While President Donald Trump’s opposition to offshore wind has been public, the permitting slowdown on land has drawn far less attention.
According to developers and industry groups interviewed by The New York Times, federal agencies have added new layers of review that have effectively paused approvals for wind and solar projects on both federal land and private property.
More than 60 large wind and solar projects planned on federal land are now at risk.
Hundreds more on private land are stalled because they still require federal consultations tied to wetlands, wildlife, aviation safety, or defense concerns.
In September, Idaho’s largest utility canceled a long-term contract to buy power from the Jackalope Wind project in Wyoming, citing “uncertainties related to the federal permitting process.”
The project, which would have generated clean electricity by 2027, was later scrapped entirely by its developer.
Instead, the utility is accelerating plans to install natural gas-burning engines, a move that energy researchers say will cost more over time and create higher pollution levels.
Demand Is Rising, Options Are Shrinking
Electricity demand in the U.S. is climbing for the first time in decades, driven by data centers, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and broader electrification.
Wind and solar power are among the fastest sources of new generation that can come online.
“Demand from utilities is astronomical,” said Sandhya Ganapathy, chief executive of EDP Renewables North America.
“But now permitting is becoming much more difficult, which means many projects may never come online or take forever to come online.”
She added, “It’s going to mean higher energy prices.”
David Carroll, chief executive of Engie North America, estimated that roughly 40 percent of his company’s planned renewable projects could be affected by the federal bottleneck.
Wind projects that require federal permits are “nearly impossible” to advance under the current process, he said.
A Policy Choice, Not A Technical One
The Trump administration argues that its approach is about restoring balance.
A White House spokeswoman said the policies are meant to reverse “unfair, preferential treatment of green energy sources like wind and solar” and to “cut burdensome red tape to level the playing field for oil and gas companies.”
Trump himself has been more explicit. In January, he said, “My goal is to not let any windmill be built.”
Critics say that stance goes beyond eliminating subsidies and instead weaponizes the permitting process.
Internal memos at the Interior Department shifted many routine approvals to the secretary’s office, creating delays that former officials describe as unworkable.
“The cheapest electrons we can add to the supply side of that equation are stuck on Secretary Burgum’s desk,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) said.
Developers Pivot Or Walk Away
Faced with uncertainty, some renewable developers are redesigning projects to avoid federal oversight, often at high cost.
Others are abandoning projects altogether or shifting investment toward natural gas plants, which the Trump administration has made easier to approve.
NextEra Energy, one of the country’s largest renewable developers, told investors it expects to build less wind and solar power over the next two years than it forecast previously, while expanding plans for natural gas facilities to serve data centers.
John Ketchum, the company’s chief executive, said renewables remain “the lowest-cost and fastest solution to meet our customers’ immediate needs,” but acknowledged that permitting delays are forcing changes.
The Political Stakes
Buttigieg’s post frames the issue in simple terms: higher electricity prices are not an accident, but a result of federal choices.
Industry groups warn that prolonged uncertainty could result in financing drying up for projects that are technically viable but politically risky.
“At a certain point, the uncertainty becomes so corrosive to the financing of projects that things start to fail,” said Jason Grumet, chief executive of the American Clean Power Association.
Even some oil and gas executives have expressed concern that the strategy sets a precedent future administrations could use against fossil fuel projects.
For now, utilities and consumers are caught in the middle.
As clean power projects stall and demand continues to climb, critics argue the outcome Buttigieg warned about is becoming harder to avoid: electricity that costs more, arrives later, and relies more heavily on fossil fuels at a time when cheaper alternatives were ready to be built.