Under President Biden, Washington spent four years making affordable electricity more difficult to produce, and the result was higher prices for consumers. Just days ago, though, the Trump administration took a major step in reversing that trend by scrapping a Biden-era power-plant rule that was forcing inexpensive plants to shut down.

The Biden rule was sold as climate policy, but its real function was to shutter coal plants and discourage new natural-gas plants. It required existing coal plants to capture most of their carbon emissions using expensive, inefficient, and unproven carbon-capture technology. The cost meant many plants would operate at a loss, so they planned to close.

Of course, the costs didn’t stop there. When a paid-off coal plant producing reliable, low-cost power is forced offline years early, and a utility has to add unreliable, expensive solar and wind to its portfolio, the consumer foots the bill. Utilities pass all these costs on to ratepayers in the form of higher utility bills.

The EPA estimates repeal will save more than $300 billion, money that would otherwise have come out of household utility bills and business operating budgets. That means much-needed relief........

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