Michael Phyllis
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congressional Republicans moved forward with a massive tax and spending reduction bill, North Carolina renewable energy executives wrote a letter to 190 employees with warning.
“The (change) will almost certainly include losses in our team’s employment,” wrote Will Atheridge, CEO of Southern Energy Management in Raleigh. “I’m telling you because you deserve transparency and truth, even if the truth is offensive.”
Now, the House bill is taking x to clean up energy incentives, such as killing a 30% tax credit for rooftop residential solar by the end of the year when the Biden administration’s inflation reduction law expands over the next decade. Trump calls the Climate Law Clean Energy Tax Credit part of the “Green New Scam,” and inappropriately shifts taxpayer subsidies to support “globalist climate agendas” and energy sources like the wind and the sun.
Companies and analysts say the GOP-backed bill is likely to overturn sector growth and eliminate employment.
“This will definitely make the residential solar industry creamy,” said Bob Keefe, executive director of E2, a business group advocating for environmental policy.
Will Etheridge, CEO of Southern Energy Management, is looking at solar panels installed at his James Assville home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.
James Asville speaks with Will Eterridge, CEO of Southern Energy Management, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, as solar panels are installed at his Asville home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
James Asville on the left speaks with Will Eterridge, CEO of Southern Energy Management, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, as solar panels are installed at his Asville home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The solar panels are installed at their home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)
File – President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on May 23, 2025 at the White House oval office in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)
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Will Etheridge, CEO of Southern Energy Management, is looking at solar panels installed at his James Assville home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.
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President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Building is aiming to be significantly more renewable energy, including eliminating the tax credits enjoyed by utility-scale solar and wind. However, home solar credit reductions occur faster.
In recent years, companies have announced more than $2 billion in clean energy investments in North Carolina. Etheridge has helped install solar panels to ensure the building is energy efficient, and among many of the sector, he has lobbyed North Carolina Sen. Tom Tillis for bill changes.
Tillis was ultimately one of three Republicans who voted against the measure, but in a sign of Trump’s power over lawmakers who pass it, Tillis said he wouldn’t seek reelection after saying Trump was likely to support a major challenger.
Now, Etheridge says losing the tax credit means firing 50-55 workers. He called the elimination of housing tax credits “bait and switching.”
“Because I’m an employee, I got a loan from my grandmother and decided to put my house on the line in favor of my business,” he said. He said he would now scramble to find a way to diversify his business.
“If you needed a money spigot from Washington to make your business viable, then you probably shouldn’t have done it in the first place,” said Adam Michel, director of tax policy studies at Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
Michelle suspected that many clean energy companies would go out of business, but “I think they’re of the right size for the market and the people employed with them will find better and more stable jobs in an industry that is actually viable and doesn’t require billions of dollars of federal grants.”
Ahead of the debate over the bill, E2 experts said in May that $14 billion in clean energy investments nationwide have been postponed or cancelled this year.
The bill passed Tuesday will remove taxes on wind and solar projects proposed in previous versions and provide time to start construction before repealing those tax credits.
Carl Spacca, president of Raleigh-based NC Solar, employs around 100 people, said the Senate bill has moderated the impact on commercial projects “while destroying the residential portion of the tax credit.” Approximately 85% of his business is residential work.
“They took it from all the average American ordinary people and gave it to wealthier business owners,” he said.
Stupka said once the bill becomes law, businesses are in a hurry to close as much solar as possible before credits end. He hopes to fire half of his employees, and there was “trickle-down” unemployment elsewhere.
“It’s going to cause some pretty serious shock waves,” he said.
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation in its water and environmental policy coverage. AP is solely responsible for all content. For all AP environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
Original issue: July 2, 2025, 2:04pm EDT
