In November 1978 Congress passed the National Energy Act. The act included five separate pieces of legislation that were originally part of President Jimmy Carter’s National Energy Plan (NEP) proposed in 1977. The National Energy Act promoted the deregulation, or removal from government controls, of natural gas prices. It also established tax credits for installation of energy-saving devices. The act set standards and provided financing for conservation in buildings and required new industrial plants to use coal or fuel other than oil or gas. Older industrial and utility plants had until 1990 to convert to using coal. The act also granted Congress authority over the interstate transmission of electric power. The act was a response to the energy crisis of the 1970s caused by the 1973­74 OPEC oil embargo. The embargo led to sharply higher oil and gas prices. Carter’s NEP had called for centralization of federal energy planning and increased regulation over energy producers and consumers. Businesses and interest groups, such as automakers, oil companies, and politicians from oil-producing states, opposed the NEP. They helped ensure that a weaker version of the NEP was passed in the National Energy Act.
