Dan Sullivan on Energy and Utility Bills: Repealed Home Energy Credits, the Coal-Plant Emergency, and Alaska Heating Aid

On July 1, 2025, Dan Sullivan cast one of the 50 votes for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed only with the Vice President's tie-breaking vote and ended the tax credits for rooftop solar, home efficiency upgrades and new wind and solar power. That night he voted against amendments to keep the wind and solar credits and the home efficiency and rooftop solar credits. Energy Innovation projected the law would raise household energy bills by $130 annual increases in household energy bills by 2030 and $170 by 2035.

Sullivan voted twice to keep the national energy emergency behind the Energy Department's orders to keep old coal plants running, and he voted to confirm the officials who carried out those orders and fired the federal staff who run heating aid. When other senators wrote to restore that staff, Sullivan did not sign on to the letter, though the program provides nearly $21 million in assistance to low-income families and seniors in Alaska. Since the Iran war began, rural Alaska heating fuel has climbed to about $8 a gallon.

Dan Sullivan's Votes, Confirmations and Silence on Energy Costs

• Sullivan Cast One of the 50 Votes for the Law That Repealed Home Energy and Clean-Power Tax Credits. On July 1, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted yes on H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote, so it would have failed without his. The law ended the rooftop solar and home battery credit with respect to any expenditures made after December 31, 2025 and cut off wind and solar projects for any applicable facility placed in service after December 31, 2027. Rhodium Group projects household electricity rates increasing by 2-4% in 2035, and Energy Innovation projected $130 annual increases in household energy bills by 2030 and $170 by 2035.
• Sullivan Voted Against Keeping the Wind and Solar Credits in July 2025. On July 1, 2025, Sullivan voted no on Sen. Jacky Rosen's amendment to maintain parity for wind and solar facilities under the Internal Revenue Code, which would have removed the bill's new cutoffs. It failed 47 to 53. Energy Innovation projected that the final law would leave the country with a 340 gigawatt decrease in generation capacity by 2035.
• Sullivan Voted Against Keeping the Home Efficiency and Rooftop Solar Credits in July 2025. On July 1, 2025, Sullivan voted no on Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's amendment providing that the amendments made by sections 70505, 70506, 70507, and 70508 are repealed, which would have kept the credits for heat pumps, insulation, rooftop solar and new efficient homes. It failed 49 to 51. The same night he voted no on Senator John Hickenlooper's amendment to keep the rooftop solar credit one more year (roll call 365), which failed 48 to 52. The home efficiency credit and the rooftop solar credit both ended after December 31, 2025, so families who install a heat pump, insulation or solar panels in 2026 pay the full cost.
• Sullivan Voted Against Protecting Families From Higher Electricity Prices and Clean Energy Factory Jobs in July 2025. On July 1, 2025, Sullivan voted no on Sen. Ron Wyden's motion to return the bill to committee with changes that would prevent changes in policy that will lead to increased electricity prices for American families and small businesses. It failed 47 to 53. He also voted no on Senator Raphael Warnock's motion to protect clean energy manufacturing jobs, which failed 48 to 51. A year later the business group E2 counted 216 major clean energy projects have been canceled, closed, or downsized since January 2025, losses it attributes to the law and to other administration actions.
• Sullivan Voted Against Overturning the Treasury Rule That Narrowed Wind and Solar Credits in March 2026. On March 25, 2026, Sullivan voted no on taking up S.J.Res. 107, which would have overturned the IRS rule on when wind and solar projects count as having begun construction. The motion failed 47 to 53. That rule, IRS Notice 2025-42, says the Physical Work Test described in section 3.02 of this notice is the sole method for most projects, so fewer projects can still claim the credit before it ends.
• Sullivan Voted to Repeal Energy-Saving Appliance Standards in 2025. In April and May 2025, Sullivan voted to repeal federal efficiency standards for walk-in coolers and freezers (April 3), gas-fired instantaneous water heaters in homes (April 10) and commercial refrigerators and freezers (May 1), all under the Congressional Review Act. Policy Integrity counts the three as Fully Repealed and estimates the lost savings at $283 million, $191 million and $208 million a year, savings that would have reached customers through lower energy bills.
• Sullivan Voted Twice to Keep the Energy Emergency Behind the Coal-Plant Orders. On February 26, 2025 and October 8, 2025, Sullivan voted against resolutions terminating the national emergency declared with respect to energy (second vote). They failed 47 to 52 and 47 to 51. The emergency framing underpins the Energy Department's orders to keep retiring coal plants open, which Grid Strategies estimates could cost ratepayers $3.121 billion to $5.925 billion a year if extended to every large plant scheduled to retire through 2028.
• Sullivan Voted to Confirm the Energy Secretary Whose Coal-Plant Orders Have Cost Ratepayers Hundreds of Millions. On February 3, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Chris Wright as secretary of energy. Starting in May 2025, Wright's department issued emergency orders forcing the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan to keep running past its retirement, and Consumers Energy has reported $295 million in costs that it seeks to recover from customers. Across all of the department's emergency orders, ratepayers are already facing at least $300 million in extra costs through mid-May 2026, according to IEEFA.
• Sullivan Voted to Confirm the Health Secretary Whose Department Fired the Staff Who Run Heating Aid. On February 13, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services. On April 1, 2025, his department fired the entire LIHEAP program staff, the federal workers who run the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Congress kept the program funded, but the national association of state energy-aid directors reports that federal LIHEAP staff have not been rehired.
• Sullivan Voted Against a Budget Measure to Shield Consumers From Iran-War Price Increases in April 2026. On April 22, 2026, Sullivan voted no on a budget motion relating to ensuring that consumers are protected from price increases associated with tariffs and the Iran war; it failed 47 to 51. He had cast one of the 50 votes in January 2025 to confirm Pete Hegseth, who has led the war that began February 28, 2026. Moody's Analytics economist Mark Zandi estimates the war costs the average household nearly $2,000, including $1,100 in higher energy prices. In Alaska, gas went from $3.50 to $4.83 a gallon between February 18 and August 20, 2026.
• Sullivan Did Not Sign the Senate Letter to Restore the Heating-Aid Staff in April 2025. In April 2025, when senators wrote to Kennedy to reverse the total elimination of the staff that oversees the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Sullivan did not sign on to the letter, the Alaska Current reported on April 4, 2025. In Alaska, the program provides nearly $21 million in assistance to low-income families and seniors to pay for heat.

What the Energy Decisions Dan Sullivan Backed Mean for Alaska Households

• Rural heating fuel. Heating fuel prices in rural Alaska climbed to an average of $8 per gallon by August 2026, up from $6.49 in January, the Alaska Beacon reported.
• Freight and fuel surcharges. Alaska Marine Lines said its fuel related surcharge will increase from 11 to 18.5 percent from April 5, 2026, raising the cost of goods shipped to Alaska.
• Heating aid. LIHEAP sends Alaska nearly $21 million in assistance to low-income families and seniors a year, and the federal staff who ran it were fired in April 2025.
• Gasoline. Alaska gas prices rose 38.1%, from $3.50 to $4.83 a gallon, between February 18 and August 20, 2026, according to AAA data compiled by Visual Capitalist.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dan Sullivan on Energy and utility bills

Last updated: 2026-10-25

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