Hey Investors: More Stable Power Bills, Richer Communities, and Increased Shareholder Returns Are Waiting

This briefing by RMI discusses the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) Program, a Department of Energy (DOE) loan initiative under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). RMI argues that investor-owned utilities (IOUs) can use these low-interest loans to accelerate clean energy transitions, increase shareholder returns, and lower costs for ratepayers, though the program is currently underutilized and rarely mentioned in utility earnings calls.

• The Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) Program is a DOE loan program providing up to $250 billion in low-interest loans for clean energy projects, including those focused on community reinvestment, workforce development, environmental remediation, and grid upgrades. The program is available for a limited window of three-and-a-half years.
• RMI's hypothetical modeling of a mid-size IOU with a $5 billion rate base and a 1 GW fossil asset suggests that using EIR funding to accelerate clean energy investment in 2025 (rather than waiting for asset depreciation in 2031) can increase earnings by more than 13% while shielding customers from rate increases.
• Despite the potential benefits for shareholders and customers, RMI's analysis of utility earnings calls indicates that while investor-owned utilities are considering the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in their planning, there have been no mentions of utilizing the EIR program specifically.

APA

RMI (2023). Hey Investors: More Stable Power Bills, Richer Communities, and Increased Shareholder Returns Are Waiting. https://rmi.org/resources/hey-investors-more-stable-power-bills-richer-communities-and-increased-shareholder-returns-are-waiting/

Chicago

RMI. Hey Investors: More Stable Power Bills, Richer Communities, and Increased Shareholder Returns Are Waiting. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/hey-investors-more-stable-power-bills-richer-communities-and-increased-shareholder-returns-are-waiting/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Hey Investors: More Stable Power Bills, Richer Communities, and Increased Shareholder Returns Are Waiting |date=5 June 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/hey-investors-more-stable-power-bills-richer-communities-and-increased-shareholder-returns-are-waiting/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023hey, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Hey Investors: More Stable Power Bills, Richer Communities, and Increased Shareholder Returns Are Waiting}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/hey-investors-more-stable-power-bills-richer-communities-and-increased-shareholder-returns-are-waiting/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }