President Donald Trump touted his administration’s energy agenda — including a new initiative to have tech companies mitigate the rise of electricity prices — during a marathon State of the Union address Tuesday that was sparse but decisive on energy messaging.
In between jabs at Democrats and boasts about the economy, immigration enforcement and legislative achievements, Trump found time to highlight the United States’ booming fossil fuel production and falling gasoline prices.
He also formally announced a new “ratepayer protection pledge” program that he described as an “obligation” for major tech companies to provide their own power for the energy-hungry data centers fueling the artificial intelligence boom.
The initiative appears to be designed to pressure tech giants to bear the burden of surging electricity prices — and to reduce the load on the country’s aging grid — as energy demand soars and affordability becomes an increasingly salient issue ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
It represents one of the most aggressive steps the administration has taken to try to lower energy costs, and it comes as Trump has blown past his self-imposed one-year deadline to cut Americans’ electricity bills in half.
“This is a unique strategy never used in this country before,” Trump told lawmakers during his speech, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright nodding along from the second row of seats in the House chamber.
“We have an old grid; it could never handle the kind of numbers, the amount of electricity, that’s needed,” Trump said. “So I’m telling [companies] they can build their own plant; they’re gonna produce their own electricity.”
Electricity prices rose 7.1 percent from December 2024 to December 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Analysts have said an aging grid and data center demand are factors in the rise.
Wright told POLITICO’s E&E News after the speech that “all of the brand-name hyperscalers” — which would include Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and others — have signed onto the pact with the administration.
The announcement cements a version of a plan the administration was working on earlier this month. It comes as tech companies have come under scrutiny from environmentalists and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle concerned about data centers’ impacts on Americans’ wallets.
“It will ensure the companies’ ability to get electricity while at the same time lowering prices of electricity for you — and could be very substantial for all of your cities and towns,” Trump said. “You’re gonna see some good things happen over the next couple of years.”
Tech industry leaders praised the initiative after Trump’s speech. Environmental groups criticized it, though many of the details remain unclear.
‘Drill, baby, drill’
Trump took aim at Democrats several times during his address, blaming the Biden administration’s efforts to prop up renewable energy sources for rising electricity bills.
“They caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens have to endure,” Trump said. “You caused that problem.”
He said the country “reached a breaking point with the Green New Scam,” his shorthand for Democratic policies that promote cleaner energy.
Trump said American natural gas production is “at an all time high because I kept my promise to ‘drill, baby, drill.’” A number of Republican lawmakers in the House chamber softly uttered the president’s energy slogan along with him.
Trump noted that domestic oil production rose by 600,000 barrels a day last year, and he added that the U.S. has received 80 million barrels of oil from Venezuela, which he called “our new friend and partner.”
Gasoline prices, Trump said, are now below $2.30 “in most states.” The average price of gasoline was $2.94 a gallon as of Feb. 23, according to the EIA.
“Soon you will see numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago,” Trump said. “Nobody can believe when they see the kind of numbers, especially energy, when they see energy going down to numbers like that, they cannot believe it.”
Trump blamed Democrats for the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which houses the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA has halted the disbursement of funding for long-term disaster recovery while DHS remains shut down.
Democrats protest
A number of Democrats skipped Trump’s address in protest of his administration’s actions. Some of them participated in a counterprogramming event dubbed the “People’s State of the Union.”
Attendees included progressives and climate hawks such as Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.).
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered the Democratic response to Trump’s speech, at one point stating, “We did not hear the truth from our president.”
She said the party-line budget bill Republicans passed last year is “driving up costs in energy and housing” while cutting health care and food benefits.
“As I campaigned for governor last year, I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere: Costs are too high in housing, health care, energy and child care, and I know these same conversations are being had all across this country,” Spanberger said.
Several members of Congress invited energy industry workers or other individuals with energy ties to the State of the Union speech as their guests. The idea was to highlight ways in which the administration is targeting renewable energy projects.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) hosted Aleshandra Fernandes, an ironworker who worked on the South Fork offshore wind project and whose work on Sunrise Wind has been delayed by the Trump administration’s efforts to halt the project.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, invited Thomas Kilday, an apprentice electrician working on the Revolution Wind project. Whitehouse’s office said Kilday’s job was “abruptly halted twice because of President Trump’s stop work orders.” Whitehouse himself skipped the speech.
Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis invited Troy Lake as her guest. Lake is a diesel mechanic who served part of a one-year prison sentence last year for disabling pollution controls on more than 200 diesel trucks, in violation of the Clean Air Act. Trump pardoned him last year.
Amelia Davidson and Jennifer Yachnin contributed to this report.
This story also appears in Energywire and Climatewire.
