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Utilities lobby for preserving clean energy and EV tax

credits

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Trump plans to eliminate $7,500 EV tax credit

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EEI members emphasize IRA benefits for growth and

consumers

By Valerie Volcovici

BAKU, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. utility industry wants

the incoming Trump administration and Republican-led Congress to

preserve clean energy and EV tax credits in the Inflation

Reduction Act, Pedro Pizarro, the CEO of utility Edison

International ( EIX ) said on Saturday.

The 2022 IRA contains hundreds of billions of dollars in

subsidies for clean energy and is billed as outgoing President

Joe Biden's signature law to combat climate change.

President-elect Donald Trump, a climate skeptic, has vowed to

rescind it, something that would require support of Congress.

Pizarro, who until recently chaired the board of industry

trade group Edison Electric Institute, said the lobby group's

members have been making the case with the Trump transition team

and Republican members of Congress that preserving the IRA is

good for businesses and consumers alike.

"One of our big priorities as an industry is going to be to

articulate the benefits of the IRA," Pizarro told Reuters on the

sidelines of the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan. "Most of

those (IRA) benefits don't actually accrue to our shareholders.

They go straight to our bills and down to our customers," he

said.

Trump's transition team is already working on plans to kill the

$7,500 consumer tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases as

part of broader tax-reform legislation, Reuters has reported.

A group representing major electric vehicle and battery

manufacturers including Rivian, Tesla, and

Panasonic ( PCRFF ), on Friday also urged Trump not to kill EV

tax credits, citing the impact on key states that voted

Republican.

Dan Brouillette, Trump's former energy secretary, stepped

down as CEO of EEI on Oct. 28, just days before the U.S.

election and is working with the transition team on energy

policy and cabinet appointments.

For EEI members, which include US and international

investor-owned utilities such as AES ( AES ), Edison

International ( EIX ), Duke Energy ( DUK ) and Southern Company,

retaining IRA tax credits for energy storage, transmission,

nuclear power, hydrogen, EVs and others are crucial for

continued growth, Pizarro said.

"It's really across the board."

EEI members will spend the coming months reaching out to

members on Capitol Hill, he said.

"We'll be very active there, just explaining the benefits of

the IRA," he said.