Council advances budget that restores $3.1 million to Sustainable Energy Trust Fund, establishes ‘Bowser Tax’ to reflect Mayor’s raid of funding meant to lower utility bills

WASHINGTON, DC — The DC Council advanced a budget today that restores $3.1 million to the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund (SETF) to implement climate and environmental programs designed to keep energy bills low and improve air quality. The Council’s vote partially reverses Mayor Muriel Bowser’s attempt to raid more than $70 million from the SETF, a fund created to help thousands of low-income households to stabilize their energy bills by upgrading to efficient electric equipment.

“A budget shows us who and what we prioritize as a District,” said André Greene, pastor of Varick Memorial AME Zion Church and a member of Washington Interfaith Network’s Strategy Team. “While the Mayor’s proposed budget makes cuts to essential programs that support DC’s hardworking families and residents, the DC Council has encouragingly chosen to invest in initiatives that help struggling households pay their energy bills and clean up our city’s air. For a healthier, more affordable future in the District, we need to make sure that the Council’s budget is passed.” 

The Council’s vote to restore $3.1 million in funding to the SETF comes after a coalition of climate, environmental, and health organizations hosted a Green Budget Day of Action, urging councilmembers to reject Bowser’s budget cuts to local climate and environmental programs. The SETF funds initiatives like the Affordable Home Electrification Program, a program created by the 2024 Healthy Homes Act to help low and moderate-income residents upgrade their homes with highly efficient heat pumps free of charge. Programs funded by the SETF stabilize energy bills at a time when D.C. families are facing crushing energy costs with the potential for further rate hikes. Advocates have called on the Council to allocate at least $15 million more to the SETF to ensure that the District receives matching federal grants to fund more home retrofit projects. 

“Just a few weeks ago, dozens of advocates rallied to protect crucial programs that everyday DC residents rely on to make ends meet—programs that Mayor Bowser is trying to cut just so she can spend more than a billion of taxpayers’ dollars on billionaire pet projects,” said Mark Rodeffer, co-chair of the Beyond Gas Subcommittee of the Sierra Club DC Chapter. “Thanks to our advocacy, the DC Council today voted for a budget that partially undoes the mayor’s devastating cuts to programs that address the soaring cost of living District residents are facing. Our leaders must continue to stand for a budget that prioritizes working people.”  

Advocates also successfully restored funding and implementation of crucial clean energy programs that were gutted in Mayor Bowser’s budget, including the Greener Government Buildings Act, the District’s Building Energy Performance Standards, and landmark legislation requiring new buildings to be constructed to net-zero standards beginning in 2026. These stronger building standards can help alleviate DC’s ozone pollution, commonly known as smog, which exacerbates asthma in the District. 

“The budget voted on today moves the District toward prioritizing the needs of the Washingtonians that are the heart of the District, by restoring funding for essential programs that bring down utility costs originally slashed by Mayor Bowser’s proposal,” concluded Claire Mills, DC Campaigns Manager, Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Action Fund. “But the bulk of the Mayor’s cuts to energy affordability and efficiency remain. DC residents deserve a budget that supports working families and residents, and we won’t rest until our communities’ needs are prioritized.” 

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