Over 40 Advocacy Groups Urge DC Council to Restore Funding for Programs that Keep Energy Affordable and Air Cleaner
Bowser’s recently proposed budget raids $70 million from programs that help low-income households upgrade to efficient electric appliances
WASHINGTON, DC — More than 40 interfaith, housing, and climate organizations called today on the DC Council to reject over $70 million in cuts from the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund (SETF), as well as rollbacks to green buildings laws, in an oversight hearing on the Department of Energy and Environment’s (DOEE) budget. Advocates instead urged the Council to prioritize a budget that champions the needs of hard-working DC residents by protecting the SETF and other programs that help low- and middle-income residents upgrade their homes and slash air pollution.
“DC’s budget must prioritize making investments in working families so that they can pay their energy bills, put food on the table, and breathe healthy air,” said André Greene, pastor of Varick Memorial AME Zion Church and a member of Washington Interfaith Network’s Strategy Team. “Right now, Mayor Bowser’s budget proposal cuts essential programs that preserve affordability and Black homeownership while increasing energy burdens in the District. We need the DC Council to step up and reject the mayor’s proposed budget cuts so that residents have access to essential programs that lower energy costs and help households make ends meet.”
The SETF funds the Healthy Homes Act of 2024, which helps low and moderate-income households stabilize their bills and improve the District’s air quality by upgrading to highly efficient heat pumps. As District residents face rising energy costs and further potential rate hikes, the SETF is critical to keeping monthly utility bills affordable.
“The DC Council voted unanimously for the passage of the Healthy Homes Act to help low- and moderate-income households upgrade to highly efficient electric appliances, cutting their utility bills and eliminating a major source of indoor air pollution,” said Mark Rodeffer, co-chair of the Beyond Gas Subcommittee of the Sierra Club DC Chapter. “Now, at a time of rising energy bills, Mayor Bowser is seeking to further increase costs on struggling families by slashing that funding to lower utility bills. Instead, she wants to give a billion dollars to the Maryland billionaire who owns the Commanders. Trickle-down economics didn’t work under President Reagan, and trickle-down economics won’t work under Mayor Browser.”
In addition to raiding the SETF, Bowser has also proposed halting the implementation of the Greener Government Buildings Act, pausing the District’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS), and repealing DC’s landmark legislation requiring new buildings to be net-zero beginning in 2026. Rolling back these laws will worsen smog, exacerbate asthma and respiratory illnesses, and prevent DC from achieving its climate commitments.
“Rising utility bills in the District are a choice, not an inevitability. Mayor Bowser’s Public Service Commission approved this exorbitant electric rate hike last year, and now the Mayor is choosing to raid funds meant to keep utility bills low and help enhance energy efficiency for DC households, such as the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund, to pay her government’s bills,” concluded Claire Mills, DC Campaigns Manager, Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Action Fund. “DC deserves better – a budget that supports the families and residents who call this city home and are the backbone of this region’s economy. That’s why we joined advocates today to urge the DC Council to reject Mayor Bowser’s funding cuts and why we’ll continue to fight to make sure our city doesn’t cater to the needs of the wealthy few and instead backs hard-working residents, families, and communities.”
Bowser’s cuts aren’t new—last year, the mayor attempted to raid $25 million from the SETF and cut the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, which subsidizes pay for day care and preschool teachers. While cutting critical affordability and climate programs that everyday D.C. residents rely on, Bowser’s budget allocates $972 million to develop the RFK Stadium site.
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