A vote to mandate renewables is a vote to mandate higher prices.Stephen Moore writes:
In Arizona and Nevada, voters will decide on Nov. 6 whether to adopt renewable mandates requiring local utilities to buy at least 50 percent of their electric power from green energy—mostly, wind and solar power. […]
Today, the United States produces more than 75 percent of its electricity from natural gas, coal, and nuclear power. Less than 10 percent comes from solar and wind power.
Given the massive federal subsidies of more than $150 billionbetween 2009 and 2014 to the wind and solar industries, that is an amazingly small percentage.
Comparing the states with the most stringent renewable portfolio standards (25 percent or more) with the states with low ones (10 percent or less), and then with states with none, reveals a pattern.
States with high renewable portfolio standards have electric power rates that are about 27 percent per kilowatt hour more expensive than states with low ones, and about 50 percent higher than states without them.
The Heartland Institute estimates costs could total an extra $1,000 per year per household, compared with current electricity costs, at the proposed rate increase in Arizona.
This could mean tens of thousands of dollars of higher costs for a business, depending on energy usage. For manufacturers, it could mean $100,000 or more of extra costs.
[Stephen Moore, “Green Energy Mandates Could Double Your Electric Bills,” The Daily Signal, October 30]
