Counting Our Energy Blessings During This Season Of Hope

Counting Our Energy Blessings During This Season Of Hope Authored by Gary Abernathy of the Empowerment Alliance via RealClearEnergy , The Christmas season is upon us, a time of year when many of us reflect on the year that is drawing to a close and on the good times, the sad times, and the challenges ahead . It’s also a time of year when we count our blessings and express gratitude for any good things that have come our way. While some may realize it more than others, all Americans should be grateful for one thing most of us tend to take for granted - light that appears in the rooms of our homes at the flick of a switch, heat that emanates through our floorboard vents or radiators by merely increasing the number on a dial or a digital pad, cars, SUVs and trucks that start with the turn of a key or the push of a button. All these modern conveniences are made possible for even low-income Americans thanks to energy that is affordable and widely accessible. In this increasingly diverse and often divided society in which we live, all Americans are united by access to low-cost, effective energy. We have been blessed for so long by affordable energy that we are sometimes in danger of taking it for granted. But without the change in presidential administrations that happened last January - and with it the blessings of lowered inflation, a return to free-market principles and, especially, regulatory rollbacks (more on that shortly) - Americans could have been facing a much bleaker winter this Christmas season. Under the Biden administration, inflation averaged nearly 5%, “hitting 9.1% during the worst inflation crisis in decades,” the White House recently pointed out . In the new Trump administration, inflation has dropped to an average of 2.7%, and “Americans have seen the first overall price decline since 2020.” Even more impressively, the skyrocketing gas prices experienced under the Biden regime have thankfully been dramatically reversed. Americans “now see the lowest average gas price in more than four years and are on track to spend the lowest amount of their disposable income on gas in the last two decades.” While energy costs remain relatively low compared to other rising costs, the Trump administration is working to tame electricity prices which began climbing in 2022 under the Biden administration. One analysis showed that “from March 2022 to June 2025, average monthly energy bills rose from $196 to $265 - a 35 percent jump, or nearly three times overall inflation during that period.” Trump’s reversal of Biden subsidies and incentives that artificially propped up “alternatives” like wind and solar will begin to reap dividends in the coming months and years. The new administration’s fast-track permitting process for new exploration will supercharge our most abundant and reliable legacy resources, driving energy costs down. But while politicians and pundits seem focused on “prices” as a measure of “affordability,” the long list of regulatory rollbacks in which the...

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