Washington Post fact-checker thrashes Biden over $500 utility savings claim: 'Fantastical'
Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler gives Biden Four Pinnochios for lofty promise
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler shot down what he called President Biden's "fantastical" claim in the Wall Street Journal that the American Rescue Plan would lower the average family’s annual utility bill by $500.
In Biden's WSJ op-ed published Monday, he wrote "a dozen CEOs" of massive utility companies in the United States told him earlier this year that his plan would provide ample benefits for Americans. These benefits include $500 shaved off of American’s utility bills and a transition away from "energy produced by autocrats."
Kessler noted Thursday that while Biden is promising massive savings, the White House is "engaging in some inflation of its own."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to Kessler, Biden’s claim comes from an October report from the Rhodium Group research firm. The firm predicted that if the U.S. adopted Biden’s climate policies, annual household energy costs would be "roughly $500 lower" by 2030, eight years from now. Kessler also pointed out "energy costs" are not synonymous with "utility bills."
‘Indeed, the report notes that, if the Biden climate plan were adopted, home electricity bills by 2030 would be between one dollar more and five dollars less than under current policy. That might pay for an extra ice cream cone over the summer," Kessler wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Most of the estimated $500 savings came from factoring in driving costs, and had nothing to do with home energy bill savings.
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Kessler also shot down Biden’s assertion that he heard this figure from energy executives. After reviewing the transcript of Biden’s conversation with executives, Kessler found "no reference" to the savings amount that the president had mentioned.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Post also said that they believe the $500 initially came from Biden’s March 1 State of the Union address, and thus the Rhodium report, not energy execs.
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"The president wrote in an opinion article on his inflation plan — presumably vetted by staff — that utility executives told him my plan would reduce the average family’s annual utility bills by $500. But he didn’t hear that from utility executives. And the report he is citing is not about household utility-bill savings. Most of the claimed savings comes from the reduced cost of driving. And the estimate is for 2030 — when he would no longer be president, even if he served a second term. Is there any doubt the president earns Four Pinocchios?" Kessler concluded.
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