U.S. Senator Katie Britt attended a Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee hearing to review the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 Department of Energy budget request with Energy Secretary Chris Wright, according to an April 27 statement. Britt said she is committed to securing the power grid, maintaining United States artificial intelligence compute power, and lowering energy costs for families in Alabama and across the country.
Britt addressed concerns about rising electricity bills, noting that between 2021 and 2025 residential power bills increased by over 40 percent nationwide. She said wholesale electricity prices surged over 250 percent in regions with many data centers during that same period. “Let’s start with data centers … We have to keep that compute power advantage. That is critically important … But in the larger conversation, as we have talked about this, we want to make sure that that advantage and the cost of that doesn’t actually fall on family’s power bills. Between [2021 and 2025], we saw residential power bills go up in this nation over 40%. It’s totally unacceptable… When you’re looking at data center heavy regions, wholesale electricity prices surged over 250% during that same time period … What do we do now? … I appreciate President Trump’s leadership on this and yours as well. The Ratepayer Protection Pledge … your Energy Dominance Financing announcement as well. I think the combination of those two things ultimately froze rates in both Alabama and Georgia. So, we are very grateful for that …” Britt continued: “But ultimately, when we’re looking at the price right now, we’ve got to figure out how do we drill down and how do we actually lower rates, not just freeze them? … I want to see lower rates in Alabama … what do you have in mind that will ultimately help people have a more affordable energy bill?”
Secretary Wright responded by outlining steps taken by the Department of Energy: “Well, we worked with you and the Senate and the House to finally end the 34 years of wind subsidies and solar subsidies… We’re focusing on…how can we get more out of our existing grid? We’re upgrading hydro facilities. We’re upgrading natural gas facilities. We’ve restarted a nuclear power plant…We have a second restart underway, and there’s more that are coming.”
Britt also emphasized national security concerns related to grid reliability: “The Biden Administration never had a strategic plan about how do we secure our grid? I appreciate the Trump administration coming forth…we’re going to have a national cybersecurity [strategy] …the actual strategic plan that you all put out …We do some work on this for the workforce sector at Auburn University [via SERC-3] …But I wanted to just see if you will use some of the money in your budget to make sure that we have grid security and the workforce to go along with it.” Wright replied simply: “Absolutely.”
Britt supports Alabamians through services like coordinating with federal agencies and nominating candidates for U.S. service academies according to her official website. She chairs the homeland security appropriations subcommittee according to her official website.
She advocates for family values as well as economic opportunities for Alabamians while supporting safeguards for minors online according to her official website. Her policy priorities include mental health access improvement efforts; educational options; youth social media protections; agricultural aid; plus national security initiatives according to her official website.
Britt holds roles on several Senate committees including appropriations; judiciary; banking housing & urban affairs; rules & administration according to her official website. She previously served as president of Alabama’s business council according to her official website.