Nick Rommel [12/4/25]

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As Democrats work to harness voters’ frustrations about the cost of living in the United States, Arizona’s junior Senator is advocating for a set of policies aimed at one facet of the issue: energy.

Sen. Ruben Gallego released an energy plan this week focused on affordability and reliability.

It calls for policies like reinstating a slew of Biden-era renewable energy tax credits, investing in nuclear power, speeding up permitting for transmission lines and expanding the federal LIHEAP energy assistance program.

Gallego said the plan is inspired by concerns he’s heard from voters.

“On the campaign trail, and even more so now, we heard a lot of people complaining about the cost of energy,” he said. “And it’s only going to get more and more expensive.”

Household electricity prices are projected to increase 18% between 2022 and 2026 by the federal Energy Information Administration. The agency projects a 1% increase in residential natural gas prices and a 23% drop in gasoline prices during that time period.

In Arizona, residential electricity prices went up 2.4% to 15.27 cents per kilowatt-hour between September 2024 and September 2025, according to the agency. That’s smaller than the nationwide increase of 7.4% during that time period.

There are signs that continued price increases could unsettle the political coalition that swept Republicans to victory in the 2024 general election.

In a recent Politico poll, 46% of respondents — including 37% of Trump voters — said the current cost of living in the U.S. is the worst they’ve seen. One in four respondents who voted for Trump in 2024 said the state of the economy was “mainly” or “fully” his responsibility. After Democratic wins in this year’s elections, Vice President J.D. Vance singled out affordability as “the metric by which we’ll ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond.”

Democratic Party leaders see affordability as a winning issue as the party prepares for the 2026 midterm elections.

Gallego emphasizes transmission infrastructure as key piece of energy puzzle

According to the Department of Energy’s Berkeley Lab, bottlenecks in transmission line construction are holding back significant amounts of new power generation.

Without new supply to meet it, rising demand for electricity causes price increases and threatens grid reliability.

Gallego said he’s seen many cases of planned solar farms and wind farms delayed by an inability to move newly generated power to areas that need it.

Gallego’s plan proposes exceptions from certain permits — including environmental reviews — for transmission projects on disturbed land or on existing transmission right-of-ways.

Data centers are a major driver of growing demand for electricity. Though utilities are mostly regulated at the state and local level, Gallego said the federal government can invest in technology to divert energy from data centers during lulls in demand.

It is unclear if or when Gallego plans to introduce legislation in Congress based on the recommendations in his energy plan.