As lawmakers in Washington debate the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, several studies have found that its repeal of tax credits for renewable energy and large batteries will cost jobs and increase consumer costs for electricity.

The U.S. Senate could begin voting on the sweeping budget reconciliation bill as soon as Friday. The legislation is stuffed with Republican priorities, including cuts to Medicaid and extending 2017 tax cuts.

It also includes a rollback of renewable energy tax incentives that were part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which many credit the climate change-centric bill for jumpstarting a solar and battery storage boom in Texas.

That rise might not end, but the sudden removal of renewable tax credits makes them more expensive. The Senate’s version of the bill calls for phasing out those credits over the next year, though some experts say it would more likely be a sudden drop because of provisions regarding how solar, wind and batteries source their components from foreign nations.

“The issue is that they will cost more, and so you’re going to see power prices go up for consumers like you and me, and you’ll also see them go up for commercial businesses and for industry,” said Dan O’Brien, a senior analyst at the Washington-based, non-partisan think tank Energy Innovation Policy & Technology.

Energy Innovation Policy & Technology – or EI – recently studied the effects of ending the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits for renewable energy. It found the average Texas household would pay $320 more for electricity in 2030 and $780 more in 2035.

Similar increases in consumer spending on electricity were projected by the Clean Energy Buyers Association, which found households would see electric bills rise by $275 in 2029.

Both studies also predicted job losses and a hit to the state’s overall economic health.

“You kind of get a double whammy of higher prices here and also fewer jobs,” O’Brien said. “So people who are struggling with energy prices are losing their jobs at the same time, it could be a rough hit.”

The Senate’s version of the budget reconciliation act preserves tax credits for other energy sources, including nuclear power and geothermal power. However, those sources of clean energy remain years away from producing the amount of energy needed to meet projections of steep power demand increases fueled by the growing number of data centers in Texas and the nation.

“We’re just not building that much of those [other energy sources]over the next five years,” said Rich Powell, CEO of the Clean Energy Buyers Association.

In Texas, the elimination of renewable tax credits will likely be greeted warmly by the state’s Republican lawmakers. Since their inception, lawmakers have sought to offset their impact by creating incentives for natural gas-fueled power plants, including a $10 billion energy fund to give low-interest loans and grants to the builders of those power plants.

However, that program has faced setbacks, which led state lawmakers to pass legislation relaxing its deadlines amid a worldwide shortage of critical components needed to complete those plants, including years-long backlogs of natural gas turbines.

That means the development of renewable energy and batteries will continue, but just not at the breakneck pace that saw batteries’ capacity in Texas jump 400% in two years and solar power’s generating capacity double.

The Big Beautiful Bill also phases out manufacturing tax credits that will create setbacks in the domestic supply of battery and solar power components, O’Brien said. That could also affect power transmission equipment as well, including transformers, cables and other equipment.

“It’s going to lead to a lot of cancellations of projects,” he said.

Amid uncertainty over the tax credits, the business group E2 estimates that $15.5 billion in nationwide investment was cancelled since January, leading to a loss of 12,000 jobs.

The Clean Energy Buyers Association estimates that Texas would see a negative impact of $5.6 billion on the states economy, while EI projected an $8.5 billion hit to the states gross domestic product in 2030.

About 82% of IRA investments occurred in Republican-held Congressional districts. Likewise, 72% of IRA jobs were created in Republican districts, according to E2.

While some Republicans are fighting to keep the renewable tax credits alive, few, if any are in Texas.

Sen. John Cornyn, who sits on the Senate’s finance committee, called the IRA tax incentives a “financial boondoggle,” but said repealing the tax credits should not be extended to projects that have already begun construction.

Renewable energy “depends on the federal government subsidizing a lot of this activity,” Cornyn told The Morning News. “At some point, we have to pay attention to the fact that we’ve got approaching a $37 trillion debt, which is an existential threat to our country.”

Arlo Nichols, a Corpus Christi technician who services wind turbines, said the clean energy industry has provided him a well-paying career – one he didn’t expect to achieve as a high school dropout.

“It really angers me when I see Congress voting on a bill that they didn’t even read that could drastically reduce our career choices in the future and slow down the growth of this industry, Nichols said during a news conference on the repeal of IRA credits. “Honestly, it makes me really angry.”

Staff writer Joseph Morton contributed to this report.