A new economic analysis shows that repealing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) could cost state economies billions of dollars, cause them to miss out on thousands of jobs, and raise energy costs for consumers.

The IRA, originally passed in 2022, represents the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in American history. The law invests hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy projects like solar, wind, and battery storage, often in the form of tax credits for consumers, or as grants and loans for the private sector.

According to the study from nonpartisan energy and climate policy think tank Energy Innovation, since its passage, $520 billion has been invested in clean energy projects, and 334,000 new jobs have been announced. If fully repealed, the group says, it could result in 1.3 million fewer jobs by 2035 and increase residential energy costs by $35 billion, or about $240 per household.

In Colorado, Energy Innovation predicts that the IRA could help create more than 16,000 jobs in manufacturing, construction, and sales by 2030. Since the law’s passage, 3,800 new jobs have been announced in the state. The analysis estimates that IRA programs will save Colorado households about $70 in annual energy costs by 2030, and could save the equivalent of the annual emissions of 76 coal-fired power plants by 2050.

In Utah, 3,900 new jobs have been announced since the law’s passage, and the state could gain 8,700 more by 2030, according to the study. It estimates that Utah households could save $96 in annual energy costs by 2030, and by 2050, it could reduce as many emissions as 88 coal-fired power plants in one year.

Wyoming has gained 1,000 new jobs according to the study, and could gain 6,700 new jobs by 2030 thanks to IRA programs. It also estimates that annual household energy costs could be reduced by $100 in 2030, and that the state could reduce emissions in 2050 by the equivalent of 90 coal-fired power plants’ annual emissions.

Silvio Marcacci, the group’s communications director based in Denver, says in Colorado, rural electric co-ops received billions of dollars, benefiting communities where energy can be expensive.

“These are helping these utilities switch from more expensive power to cheaper power, which also creates jobs because building things, building new renewable energy projects puts people to work,” he said.

Electrification Program Director Sara Baldwin, who’s based in Salt Lake City, UT, says investing in renewable energy and battery storage can insulate consumers from fluctuating natural gas prices.

“They are fuel-free once they are up and running, which means they save consumers money, they reduce costs overall, and they keep the lights on,” she said, adding that these kinds of investments are especially important for Western states.

“We definitely, here in the West, have a lot of growth,” she said. “We have population growth, we have growth in business, we also have growth in data centers, and there is this push to get more energy online quickly. The realities are wind, solar, and storage can come online very quickly if they’re allowed to connect to the grid.”

“We have an opportunity to address a so-called energy emergency with the resources that are ready to connect and provide electricity,” Baldwin said. “Why we would prevent them from doing that is unclear to me, when there’s clearly a need for them.”

Marcacci says recently-introduced tariffs have a stated goal of reinvigorating American manufacturing and investment, but the Inflation Reduction Act was already doing that.

“We have started building new factories. We have started putting Americans back to work. We are building a more resilient domestic supply chain,” he said. “If you repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, you throw all of that away and you introduce a ton of uncertainty into our economy, into our energy bills, and basically into our way of life.”

The Trump administration has promised to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. In one of its first executive orders, Unleashing American Energy, the administration put an immediate pause on all IRA funds. Some of those funds have since been released, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), though grant recipients are being advised to eliminate “Biden-era DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) and climate mandates embedded in previous proposals.”

Despite that, some GOP lawmakers in Congress have shown support for some of the tax credits for renewable energy programs created by the IRA. Two of Colorado’s freshman Republican representatives, Jeff Hurd (CO-03) and Gabe Evans (CO-08), recently signed onto a letter supporting the administration’s goals of “America First national energy dominance,” and using an “all of the above” approach to energy to do so.

“As energy demand continues to skyrocket, any modifications that inhibit our ability to deploy new energy production risk sparking an energy crisis in our country, resulting in drastically higher power bills for American families,” the letter reads. “This is especially true for energy credits with direct passthrough benefit to ratepayers, where such repeals would increase utility bills the very next day.”

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