Washington Gas’ James Steffes testifies in House hearing on energy affordability and choice

WASHINGTON - Washington Gas Senior Vice President of Regulatory, Policy and Advocacy James Steffes testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Energy on Tuesday in a hearing examining energy affordability, choice and security in appliance and building policies. The hearing, which focused on laws and regulations limiting the use of natural gas through appliance efficiency standards, building codes and in federal buildings, comes ahead of a potential Congressional push on permitting reform and follows the introduction of key pieces of legislation to protect consumer choice and affordability, including Rep. Nick Langworthy's (NY-23) Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act.

"Congress must take action to reduce rigid government mandates that fail to fully account for safety, reliability, resilience, and affordability for ratepayers, especially in our nation's Capital. Whether it is passing bills currently before this committee that champion energy affordability, consumer choice, and sensible regulation, investing in modernization of our infrastructure, or undoing costly and unwise regulation, Washington Gas stands ready to work with policymakers and stakeholders to meet these challenges, as we always have for the National Capital Region and its residents.," said Steffes in his written testimony.

"Natural gas has been and will continue to be the fuel of choice for American consumers and is the cornerstone of America's economic and energy security. With more than 100 years of abundant supply, domestic natural gas has helped to insulate the American public from price volatility in energy markets across the globe," said AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert. "America needs simple, commonsense reforms to protect our citizens' access to affordable, efficient, clean and reliable energy and to make America competitive and secure. AGA looks forward to continuing to work with Congress to protect affordability and consumer choice, forward energy safety and national security and enshrine robust permitting reforms into law."

Clean, affordable, reliable natural gas remains popular among American consumers with hundreds of millions of Americans relying on natural gas to heat their homes, fuel their businesses and manufacture goods. More than one new residential customer signs up for natural gas service every minute and approximately 60 businesses begin new natural gas service every day.

Natural gas is 3.5 times more affordable than electricity and significantly more affordable than several other residential energy sources for the same amount of energy delivered. The average household that uses natural gas for heating, cooking and clothes drying saves $1,132 per year compared to homes using electricity for those applications.

In addition to cost savings on the average bill, natural gas utilities spend $1.5 billion on efficiency programs every year to save 1.7 million metric tons of carbon - the equivalent of removing 424,000 cars from the road. Energy efficiency technologies and programs play a foundational role in creating a more reliable, affordable and sustainable energy system for the United States, and natural gas has played a critical role in forwarding this mission.