Gov. Spanberger Moves to Increase Electricity Prices With Plans to Rejoin RGGI

WASHINGTON DC (1/28/26) – Last week, Governor Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), who ran a campaign based on affordability, including lower energy bills, announced that Virginia would be rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and thus imposing a new tax on residents. The RGGI is a regional cap-and-trade program in the Northeast that requires power plants to buy “allowances” to emit carbon dioxide. These allowance costs are naturally passed on to the consumer, inevitably raising electricity prices.

American Energy Alliance President Tom Pyle released the following statement:

“In December, we released a report giving an in-depth look at electricity prices. The data are clear: energy affordability is a policy problem, and blue states that pursue aggressive climate policies pay more. With her RGGI announcement this week, unfortunately, Gov. Spanberger is about to prove what we already know to be true.

“Cap-and-trade is just another name for a consumer tax, plain and simple. It affects not only energy affordability but also the reliability of the grid, as it makes adding and retaining baseload generation more difficult. With rising electricity bills, the importance of an affordable and reliable power grid should be Gov. Spanberger’s main focus. Instead, she remains fixated on pushing pointless, costly policies that Americans have repeatedly rejected.

“It is disappointing that any governor sees the RGGI as a path forward for their state, especially now when affordability is top of mind for all Americans. At the end of the day, the promotion of climate idealism may sound nice, but it does nothing to actually help American families pay their utility bills, and it does little for the environment.” 

Gov. Spanberger’s predecessor, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, had pulled Virginia out of RGGI. According to former Gov. Youngkin, from the time Virginia originally joined RGGI to the time they left, residents paid $828 million in a regressive interstate tax applied to their power bills.  

AEA Experts Available For Interview On This Topic:

• Tom J. Pyle, President
• Kenny Stein, Vice President of Policy
• Alex Stevens, Manager of Policy and Communications

Additional Background Resources From AEA:

• Blue States, High Rates
• Virginia Rejoins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
• Gov. Youngkin Signals That Virginia Is Leaving RGGI
• Pennsylvania Drops Out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

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