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Power Corrupts: Delaware Democrats Shut Down Debate on SB 65 and Rising Energy Costs


4/22/2026


Yesterday in Dover, Delaware families got a front-row seat to exactly what one-party rule looks like.


Senator Gerald Hocker introduced Senate Bill 65, a common-sense bill to pull Delaware out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, known as RGGI (pronounced Reggie). If you have never heard of RGGI before, here is what you need to know: Delaware families are paying real money every month in their electric bills, and Democrats are pretending they are not.


What Is RGGI and Why Should You Care?

RGGI is a multi-state agreement created in 2005, when states thought the federal government might start charging fees on carbon emissions from power plants. That never happened, but Delaware still chose to keep charging power plants anyway. Those costs get passed on to families and businesses through higher electric bills, while the state collects the money and hands it out through various energy and climate programs. More than 20 years later, those programs and the bureaucracies behind them have grown used to the money and do not want to let it go while Delaware households keep paying the price.

And this matters now more than ever.


Delaware Families Are Already Being Squeezed

Starting June 1, 2026, Delmarva Power customers will see an 18 to 20% supply rate increase. That means about $14.64 more per month for the average household, or about $175 more per year. And that is before Delmarva Power’s separate request for another $67.8 million base rate increase is approved. Delaware families are already being squeezed from every direction: wholesale power costs, capacity charges, transmission upgrades, and policy surcharges. RGGI is one more layer of cost at the worst possible time.


Governor Matt Meyer says RGGI “makes polluters pay.” That sounds good in a campaign ad. In reality, Delaware families pay.


Where Does the Money Go?

Under RGGI, power plants are charged extra fees to produce electricity. The state then collects tens of millions of dollars from those fees and redistributes the money through DNREC and other government-approved programs. Delaware has already collected more than $252 million through RGGI.


So who ultimately pays that bill? You do. Those extra costs are built into the price of electricity and passed along to Delaware households, small businesses, farmers, and seniors through higher electric bills.


And where does all that money go? It does not go back to lower your electric bill. 65% goes to Energize Delaware for energy efficiency programs, loans, and rebates. Only 5% goes to direct low-income heating assistance. 10% goes to the Weatherization Assistance Program. And that Weatherization Assistance Program—the one politicians keep pointing to—has only helped 1,221 Delaware homes over several years, saving those households about $283 per year.


Think about that, Delaware has collected $252 million, yet the program they keep using as their main defense has only reached a tiny fraction of Delaware households! Meanwhile, every ratepayer in Delaware pays. That is what Senator Hocker was trying to expose yesterday.


A Hearing or Political Theater?

But instead of a fair hearing, Senator Stephanie Hansen turned the Senate Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee hearing into political theater. She controlled the hearing from start to finish, giving nearly 90 minutes to bureaucrats, government agencies, and organizations that financially depend on RGGI money—DNREC, Energize Delaware, solar companies, and subsidy recipients—who praised the very programs funded by money taken from Delaware ratepayers.


In contrast, Hansen repeatedly cut off Senator Hocker and limited his two expert witnesses to just two minutes each, even though SB 65 was Hocker’s own bill. Those witnesses included Dave Stevenson, former Director of the Caesar Rodney Institute’s Center for Energy & Environmental Policy and now with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, who testified that RGGI has added hundreds of millions of dollars to Delaware electric bills over the last 17 years, and John Nichols, contributor to the Caesar Rodney Institute, who explained how bad energy policy is shutting down reliable local generation and forcing Delaware to import more expensive electricity from out of state.


Senator Stephanie Hansen and her witnesses repeatedly argued that Delaware families are not paying these costs directly and that RGGI is not a meaningful driver of higher electric bills. Senator Gerald Hocker pressed the obvious question: if Delaware families are not paying, then where does the roughly $60 million a year come from? That is when the hearing became visibly uncomfortable. Witnesses claimed the money comes from power generators, but when asked who ultimately pays those generators’ higher costs, no one gave a clear answer. Delaware Public Advocate Jameson Tweedie—an environmental lawyer whose background is in climate and energy policy—admitted multiple times that he was “not an expert” in PJM markets and could not explain exactly how those costs flow through the system.


At that point, Senator Stephanie Hansen made it clear who was in control with her brutal statement, “It is my committee.” (You can read the transcript yourself below, scroll to 1:15:12.)


And with that, Delawareans may have watched the fate of Senate Bill 65 in real time. As Chair of the Senate Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee, Hansen can effectively bury the bill by refusing to release it for a vote before the full Senate. This is what happens when power is concentrated in one party’s hands, as the saying goes: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”


"It's My Committee", King Stephanie Hansen
"It's My Committee", King Stephanie Hansen

One-Party Rule on Full Display

When Delaware families asked why their electric bills keep going up, they did not get answers. They got a performance. When Senator Gerald Hocker asked the question many Delawareans are asking around their own kitchen tables—why are we paying more every month?—the debate was shut down.


Independent thinkers, and even lifelong Democrats, should take a hard look at what is happening in Delaware under one-party rule. Instead of lowering basic electric bills, lawmakers are protecting government programs and the bureaucracies that depend on them. Meanwhile, middle- and low-income families are hit the hardest. These are the families forced to choose between heating their homes, buying groceries, or filling a prescription.


The people in Dover may not feel that pain. They have built too many government jobs, programs, and political interests around this money to let it go. And everyday Delawareans are paying the price.


If Delaware truly believes in “no kings,” then it’s time to vote out Democrat one-party rule.


Linked here are the Caesar Rodney Institute’s prepared policy brief so Delawareans can review the numbers for themselves and decide whether this program is truly helping or hurting working families.


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Salted Vines, located at 32512 Road 374 in Frankford, is a true local gem. If you have not been, you will love it. The setting is rustic and relaxed, the wine is excellent, and it is the perfect backdrop for a fun, high-energy evening with our Republican community.


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We hope to see you there!




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If you like what we do and would like to help support our mission, please send us a donation. We thank you for choosing to keep the 38th District Republican Club a success and a beaming light of conservative values in Delaware!


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