Trump Says Affordability is a Con Job – But Utility Prices Are Up 16% in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania energy costs are up 16% and more than 1,100 clean energy jobs have been canceled or delayed thanks to Trump’s policies

Climate Power hammers Trump on higher costs with a YouTube ad & Scranton Times Tribune homepage takeover 

Washington, DC – Ahead of his speech in Pennsylvania, Trump has called affordability a “hoax” and a “con job,” and that utility prices are “way down.” The truth is: Trump’s war on clean energy is jacking up utility bills, killing jobs, and taking faster, cheaper energy off the grid when demand is higher than ever. Meanwhile, Republicans are putting their allegiance to Donald Trump over their own constituents by voting to cut clean energy projects that would have lowered prices and created jobs. As Trump heads to Pennsylvania to spin his disastrous economic agenda, Climate Power and Protect Our Jobs will hold him accountable for his broken promises and failed policies with a YouTube ad and a Scranton Times Tribune homepage takeover. 

Climate Power Communications Director Alex Glass issued the following statement: 

“In 2025, Republicans who rubber-stamped Trump’s disastrous economic agenda were soundly rejected at the ballot box. Now, Trump is desperate to do damage control. But we have a reality check for him: Pennsylvanians are paying 16% higher utility bills. The vulnerable congressional Republicans on the ballot in 2026 are directly responsible for raising energy costs and sending good-paying jobs overseas – and we’ll make sure voters know that the real ‘con job’ is the bogus GOP promise to lower costs.”

Trump and Republicans are taking a sledgehammer to clean energy projects across the country, jacking up costs for Americans: 

• Republican Representatives Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07), Rob Bresnahan (PA-08), and Scott Perry (PA-10), who are facing tough elections in 2026, all voted to raise costs for Pennsylvania families with the GOP budget bill. 

• Trump is trying to gaslight the American people by claiming that electricity prices are “coming down”, but last month, voters sent a clear message that they are fed up with his broken promises and failed policies.

• At a time when we need more energy, Trump is waging a war on clean energy by “intentionally handicapping more easily and faster-built wind, solar, and battery storage projects” and it’s making energy more expensive.
• Since Trump was elected, 9 clean energy projects or companies in Pennsylvania have experienced layoffs or been canceled or delayed, impacting $194.5 million in investment and 1,114 jobs in the state. 

• Nationally, more than 158,000 jobs have been lost or stalled since Trump took office.
  

• Power companies, tech companies, and experts warned Republicans that their budget bill would send utility bills skyrocketing, but they insisted on passing their billionaire tax cut.
• While Trump protects tax breaks for his billionaire buddies, Pennsylvania families are left to pay the price as they open higher utility bills every month.