Press Releases

NEW REPORT: How Rural Electric Co-ops Can Repower America with the Inflation Reduction Act

Today, Evergreen Action released a new report detailing how rural electric cooperatives can take advantage of six new major federal funding opportunities to cut costs for their members, reduce climate pollution, and benefit their bottom line as they grow as leaders in America’s clean energy transition. 

The report, Next-Generation Rural Electrification: How Rural Electric Co-ops Can Repower America with the Inflation Reduction Act comes out in advance of two critical deadlines for programs that will allocate $10.7 billion of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds that rural co-ops can use to acquire new clean energy assets and restructure existing debt on fossil fuel infrastructure. To take advantage of the $9.7 billion from USDA’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, co-ops must submit a Letter of Interest by September 15, 2023. And to tap into $1 billion in partially forgivable loans from the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program, co-ops must submit a Letter of Interest by September 29, 2023.

“The IRA can be a gamechanger for electric power in rural America, but only if rural co-ops take fast action,” said Evergreen Action Energy Transition Policy Lead Mattea Mrkusic. “Rural co-ops have been operating under an untenable status quo—tied to overpriced and over-polluting infrastructure that jacks up costs for their members and accelerates the climate crisis. But if they take action ahead of next month’s deadlines for the New ERA and PACE programs, they can tap into billions of dollars in federal funding that can be used to retire outdated fossil fuel infrastructure and build out clean, affordable energy to better serve their members. It’s a win for ratepayers, a win for the climate, and perhaps most importantly, a huge victory for the co-ops themselves. They simply can’t afford to miss out.”

The report makes policy recommendations for state and federal officials to support rural co-ops’ clean energy transition and outlines five critical reasons that rural co-ops can’t afford to miss out on the once-in-a-generation opportunity provided by the IRA, including:

  1. Increased affordability

  2. Improved reliability

  3. Getting ahead of upcoming regulatory requirements

  4. Strengthening rural co-op democracy

  5. Protecting rural Americans from fossil fuel pollution

You can read the full report here.