Biden Is Set to Meet With Utilities in New Push for Climate Spending

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden is set to meet Wednesday with the leaders of some of the nation’s largest electric utilities, as he continues to push for lawmakers to approve $550 billion in spending on energy and climate measures.

The session comes as Senate Democrats and the White House attempt to find a way to advance a new version of provisions in the stalled Build Back Better Act. Of the $550 billion related to climate and energy, more than $300 billion would go toward new and expanded tax credits for wind and solar power, nuclear plants, and other items that have drawn utilities’ support. 

It’s the latest effort by Biden to rally support for the bill from corporate leaders. Last month, he hosted executives from Microsoft Corp., General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. who praised the plan’s provisions for child and elder care.

Among the participants in the Wednesday meeting are several chief executive officers, including Tom Fanning of Southern Co., Nick Akins of American Electric Power Co Inc., Pedro Pizarro of Edison International, Lynn Good of Duke Energy, Dennis Arriola of Avangrid Inc., Patricia Vincent-Collawn of PNM Resources. 

Ameren Corp. Executive Chairman Warner Baxter, Exelon Corp. Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Calvin Butler, and DTE Energy Co. Chairman Gerry Anderson, Edison Electric Institute President Tom Kuhn are also expected to attend, the White House said.

The attendees and their organizations “know that the best way to ensure future economic growth is to make long-term investments that will combat the climate crisis, increase the competitiveness of our industries and protect our electrical grid from extreme weather events -- all while lowering costs for American families across the country,” the White House said in a statement.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy and Deputy National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi will join Biden for the meeting.

The effort to pass Build Back Better Bill was blocked in late December by two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, pivotal votes in the evenly divided chamber. Since then, the president has singled out the bill’s climate measures as one area where he thought agreement could be reached. 

“EEI and our member companies are strongly advocating that Congress pass legislation that incorporates forward-thinking actions to address climate change, including a robust clean energy tax package,” Kuhn of the Edison Electric Institute, the utility industry’s main trade group, said ahead of the meeting.

The group also plans to make a pitch for building new transmission lines and other energy infrastructure, Kuhn said.

(Updates throughout.)

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