#26

270 Energy:Eliminate the Office of Electricity Deliverability and Energy Reliability

Savings in Millions of Dollars
  • 2016
    150
  • 2017
    150
  • 2018
    150
  • 2019
    152
  • 2020
    156
  • 2021
    159
  • 2022
    163
  • 2023
    167
  • 2024
    170
  • 2025
    173
  • 2016-2020
    758
  • 2016-2025
    1590

Sources

Savings are expressed as budget authority and were calculated by using the FY 2014 enacted spending levels as found on page 101 of House of Representatives, 113th Congress, 2nd Session, “Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, 2015.” The FY 2014 enacted spending was increased at the same rate as discretionary spending for 2016–2025, according to the CBO’s most recent August 2014 baseline spending projections.

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Technical Notes on Scoring

CBO Baseline

Unless otherwise noted, calculations for savings for each recommendation relies on the most recent Congressional Budget Office baseline, as found in “An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024,” published August 27, 2014, has been used.

Savings “Totals”

While totals for the five and 10 year savings are provided by section and for the complete set of recommendations, there are two reasons they should not be viewed as representing total savings for The Budget Book.

First, as noted in the introduction, The Heritage Foundation would recommend that the savings realized in the Function 050 Defense section would stay within the Department of Defense to strengthen the nation’s defense capabilities.

Second, the numbers cannot be deemed to represent the realized savings if every single recommendation were adopted because policy changes made in one program can impact spending levels in other programs.  Thus, the numbers in the table do not reflect any potential interactions between the various policy changes affecting spending or savings.

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Heritage Recommendation:

Eliminate the Office of Electricity Deliverability and Energy Reliability (OE). This proposal saves $150 million in 2016, and $1.6 billion over 10 years.

Rationale:

Keep US on the right road to building a cleaner America. Eliminate the OE.

The OE pursues activities to modernize the nation’s grid; it is evident that much of the funding advances the Administration’s goals of promoting electric vehicles and renewable energy. In fact, the Administration recognizes, “Without development and deployment of ‘next generation’ electric transmission, distribution and customer technologies, the grid could become a barrier to the adoption of cleaner energy supplies and more energy-efficient demand-side measures.” ((U.S. Department of Energy, “Fiscal Year 2013 Congressional Budget Request: Department of Energy: Volume 3,” February 2012, 

(accessed December 15, 2014).))

Upgrading the nation’s electricity grid has merit, but it should not be a government-centric approach, nor should it be used as a subsidy to advance renewable energy sources, especially by focusing on building new transmission lines to remote areas. Furthermore, smart-grid technology should be developed and driven by the private sector. Any money allocated for cybersecurity, and for a cooperative public–private role for grid protection, could very well fall under the Department of Homeland Security’s purview.

Keep US on the right road to building a cleaner America. Eliminate the OE.

Contributing Expert

Nicolas (Nick) Loris, an economist, focuses on energy, environmental and regulatory issues as the Herbert and Joyce Morgan fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

See publications by Nicolas Loris

Nicolas (Nick) LorisHerbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow

Heritage Experts

Jack Spencer oversees Heritage Foundation research on a wide range of domestic economic issues as director of the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies. Those topics include federal spending, taxes, energy and environment, regulation and retirement savings.

See publications by Jack Spencer

Jack SpencerVice President for the Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity

Katie Tubb is a Research Associate and Coordinator in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies

See publications by Katie Tubb

Katie TubbResearch Associate and Coordinator

Additional Reading