At the Free DC candidate forum on March 14, Kenyan McDuffie blatantly misrepresented Janeese Lewis George’s record, denying the truth that she has introduced utility bill affordability legislation. It was likely an attempt to distract from his long history of helping raise utility company profits on the backs of DC residents.
Janeese Lewis George has co-introduced multiple bills seeking to lower utility costs for DC residents. Kenyan McDuffie, on the other hand, spent eight years chairing the committee with oversight of the gas and electric utility companies but provided no serious oversight and instead worked with them behind the scenes to raise costs on DC residents.
Utility Bill Affordability Legislation Co-Introduced by Janeese Lewis George:
Automatic Enrollment for Utility Affordability Act of 2025 - Requires DC Department of Energy and Environment to create a system to automatically enroll District residents in income-qualified utility affordability programs.
- ✅ Janeese Lewis George co-introduced.
- ❌ Kenyan McDuffie co-introduced but never took action on the bill in his committee.
DC Water Billing and Disconnection Modernization Act of 2025 - Requires DC Water to establish an amnesty program to waive a portion of outstanding balances.
- ✅ Janeese Lewis George co-introduced.
- ❌ Kenyan McDuffie did not co-introduce.
Guiding Renewable Interconnection and Distribution (GRID) Act of 2026 - Speeds up the process for DC residents and solar companies to connect solar panels to the grid, allowing residents (including participants in the low-income Solar for All program) to more quickly reduce their electric bills by generating electricity on their roofs.
- ✅ Janeese Lewis George co-introduced.
- ❌ Kenyan McDuffie resigned from the Council before this bill was introduced.
Greener Government Buildings Act of 2022 - Requires that newly constructed DC government buildings meet net zero energy efficiency standards, reducing government utility bills and reducing strain on the grid, saving money for all electric ratepayers over the long term by reducing grid upgrade costs.
- ✅ Janeese Lewis George co-introduced.
- ❌ Kenyan McDuffie did not co-introduce and sought to undermine the legislation.
Kenyan McDuffie’s History of Obstruction and Inaction on Energy Affordability:
❌ McDuffie took no action on key energy affordability legislation: The Automatic Enrollment for Utility Affordability Act of 2025, which would automatically enroll participants in income-qualified programs like Medicaid or SNAP in income-qualified utility affordability programs, was referred to the Business and Economic Development Committee for comment on May 13, 2025. As chairman of the committee, Kenyan McDuffie never took action on the bill.
❌ McDuffie sought to undermine legislation to reduce DC utility costs: McDuffie worked behind the scenes to gut the Greener Government Buildings Act, which required new DC government buildings to be net zero energy, meaning they are highly energy efficient, reducing utility bills. With the DC government spending $7 million a year in gas bills, Washington Gas disliked the idea and used McDuffie to seek amendments that would “neuter” the bill, according to the Washington City Paper.
❌ McDuffie removed a key energy affordability measure from major clean energy legislation: In 2018, McDuffie stripped from a landmark energy law a provision that would require Pepco to lower electric bills with long-term contracts for renewable energy. At the time, Massachusetts projected savings of $682 million from requirements similar to those that McDuffie removed. DC is smaller than Massachusetts, so we likely would have had smaller cost savings, but the measure would have reduced utility bills had McDuffie not killed it. But McDuffie was on the same page as Pepco, which ran misleading ads about it on Facebook.
❌ While McDuffie oversaw utility regulation, DC’s electricity rates skyrocketed more than double the rate increases in nearby states: From 2017 to 2025, when Kenyan McDuffie had oversight of utility regulation, DC’s electric rates increased 69%, more than double the electric rate increases of Virginia and Pennsylvania utilities and roughly 50% more than the electric rate increases of Maryland utilities, according to a 2026 analysis published in The 51st.
