Independent Report Finds that the Trump Administration’s Orders to Keep Coal-fired Power Plants Running Could Cost Consumers between $3-6 Billion a Year

(WASHINGTON -- Aug 14, 2025) If the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) mandates that the large fossil fuel power plants scheduled to retire between now and the end of 2028 continue to operate, the cost to ratepayers could exceed $3.1 billion per year. If DOE issues similar orders for additional older fossil plants, the cost could reach nearly $6 billion per year, according to an independent analysis prepared by Grid Strategies for Earthjustice, Environmental Defense Fund, NRDC, and Sierra Club.

Forcing utilities to continue to operate unneeded and costly coal-fired power plants past their planned retirement increases the electric bills paid by homeowners and businesses. It also undermines the competitiveness of U.S. businesses such as manufacturing by raising electric rates.

Anyone who pays an electricity bill in any region outside the Northeastern U.S. could be footing the bill. Electricity costs could increase by tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars per year in most states.

Such DOE orders to continue operations would be unprecedented, but the agency has already acted unlawfully to prevent the retirement of two fossil fuel plants. And DOE has refused to make available information about other actions in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Power plants have been slated to retire because their owners and state regulators have determined the plants are no longer needed and no longer economically competitive. DOE’s unprecedented orders threaten to keep some of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest power plants operating unnecessarily and upend the usual legal and regulatory decision-making process.

The analysis is a conservative assessment of costs. For example, the analysis estimates that the J.H. Campbell Power Plant in Michigan would cost $139,402,927. In fact, recently filed documents from the power plant owner, Consumers Energy, reveal the cost to operate the plant for 38 days was $29 million. If DOE were to extend the Campbell order beyond 90 days and this cost trend were to persist, the annual cost would be $279 million or $178,559/MW-year, almost exactly twice the estimate in the report.

The upper cost estimate of $5.9 billion includes 90 power plants, some of which are not yet scheduled to retire. The DOE orders create a perverse incentive that would induce additional power plants to claim they want to retire so they can be paid by ratepayers to produce power that is not cost-competitive, effectively establishing ratepayer subsidies for power plants subject to DOE mandates.

Since the President’s electric grid executive order took effect, the DOE has issued two 202(c) “emergency” orders mandating the continued operation of large fossil fuel plant slated to retire. If this abuse of emergency powers continues, and the DOE subjects all 54 power plants scheduled to retire between now and the end of 2028 to mandates, the cost of electricity will skyrocket in most states.

The only energy emergency in the U.S. is the failure to transition fast enough to clean energy. This administration has tried to throttle domestic energy production by pausing all wind energy projects, halting funding for hundreds of clean energy projects across the U.S., and proposing to gut DOE’s budget for offices that administer programs for solar and wind energy, energy efficiency, and the office that helps upgrade America’s electric infrastructure.

Michael Lenoff, Senior Attorney at Earthjustice, said, “The Department of Energy’s abuses are not some academic dispute. DOE’s unlawful orders impose real costs on real families. The agency obligates Americans to take money out of their pockets to pay unneeded coal plants to pollute their air. That is unlawful, unwise, and unfair. We will continue to take the agency to court to stop the administration’s irresponsible efforts.”

Ted Kelly, Director and Lead Counsel for U.S. Clean Energy at Environmental Defense Fund, said, “Households and businesses shouldn’t be paying billions out of pocket to keep aging, costly fossil fuel plants on life support, but that’s the path the Trump administration is taking us down. This report confirms that the Department of Energy’s unlawful mandates amount to a self-inflicted rate hike in nearly every region of the country. These dirty and expensive fossil plants were slated to close for good reason: they cannot compete with cleaner sources of energy that are more affordable and better for our health.”

Caroline Reiser, Senior Staff Attorney for Climate & Energy at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), said “Renewable sources of energy are less expensive than coal for almost every coal power plant in the country. The Department of Energy’s orders and the President’s executive order are a political takeover of the electricity grid, granting the Secretary of Energy the authority to override markets, states, FERC, and NERC to bolster uneconomic and polluting fossil fuels. The result of this will be higher electricity bills, more pollution in our communities, and a worsening climate crisis.”

Greg Wannier, Senior Attorney for the Sierra Club, said, “At a time when hardworking families are already facing economic instability because of Donald Trump’s reckless financial policies, his administration is forcing Americans to pay out of their pocket to support dirty, aging, and expensive coal plants. The Department of Energy should be finding solutions to provide our communities with the most affordable and cleanest electricity, not forcing them to pay exorbitant fees for unnecessary and deadly fossil fuels.”