Jared Duvall, executive director of the Energy Action Network (EAN), presented the organization’s 2025 affordability analysis to the House Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure, outlining how current energy spending and recent incentive changes affect Vermont households.

EAN’s analysis shows Vermont spent more than $3 billion on energy last year, about $2 billion on fossil fuels. Duvall emphasized that electricity is only a portion of household energy expenses; transportation and heating (fossil fuels) remain the largest cost drivers. He told the committee that modern electric technologies — particularly electric vehicles — use energy far more efficiently than fossil‑fuel machinery and therefore offer durable savings over time.

“With an electric vehicle, your dollar takes you farther,” Duvall said, explaining that EVs convert a much higher share of input energy into useful work than internal‑combustion engines and therefore need less fuel to move the same distance. EAN’s case studies show a used or new EV can save several thousand dollars in fuel and maintenance over its life, even under conservative electricity‑price assumptions.

Duvall also highlighted distributional impacts: between 2020 and 2025, Vermont’s state and utility incentives directed to EV purchases prioritized lower‑ and middle‑income households; in 2024–25 those state programs were fully expended and the federal EV tax credits expired, leaving only limited utility rebates. EAN warned that removing those incentives risks locking higher‑cost, higher‑emissions options to households that cannot bear upfront costs.

The report recommends preserving targeted incentives for lower‑income households, expanding affordable EV charging options and off‑peak pricing, and coordinating state and utility programs so efficiency investments (EVs, heat pumps, weatherization) reach households most at risk from high fuel volatility.

This article summarizes EAN’s testimony and the report presented to the committee.