The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) has endorsed a climate change framework intended to help ensure that U.S. climate policy is successful in both reducing GHG emissions and addressing the cost concerns of consumers. EEI member companies support enactment of legislation that reduces GHG emissions by 80 percent below current emissions levels by 2050, while providing strong, effective consumer protection measures to help reduce electricity price increases as we transition to a low-carbon future.

The following consumer protection provisions are essential to ensure broad, long-term public support for climate change legislation:

• Allocating emission allowances to the electric utility sector to help reduce price increases to all electricity consumers—large and small, rural, urban, and suburban;
• Including a "price collar" on emission allowances to protect consumers and the economy from price volatility and market manipulation;
• Setting reasonable and achievable emissions reduction targets and timetables that align GHG reductions with the availability of cleaner technologies; and
• Allowing the wide and robust use of offsets, both domestically and internationally, to provide utilities with an important tool to meet emissions targets.  

Climate Policy Resources

• Strong Cost-Containment Measures Are Needed To Help Protect Electricity Consumers and the U.S. Economy
• Regulating Greenhouse Gases: A Single Federal Statute Should Fully Replace All Federal and State Regulations
• EEI letter to the U.S. Senate on Climate Change Legislation
• EEI’s Global Climate Change Points of Agreement
• EEI’s Global Climate Change Principles
• Understanding EEI’s Global Climate Change Points of Agreement
• See Protecting Consumers for more climate policy resources.

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