David T. Stevenson has spent 12 years as the director of the Center for Energy & Environmental Policy for the Caesar Rodney Institute. He is also leading the national effort opposing offshore wind through the American Coalition for Ocean Protection and the Ocean Environment Legal Defense Fund, while promoting advanced nuclear power development.
Sorry about those high electric bills, but nothing has really changed in the last few months except the weather. Higher costs have been sneaking up for decades and wait till you see what’s coming next.
In 2008, legislation (plus more recent amendments) passed mandating ever-growing requirements for wind and solar power, and creating a carbon tax on state power plants. Because of efforts like ours, you can see the costs as line items on your electric bills if you are a Delmarva Power customer. Add up the line items for the Green Energy Fund, the qualified fuel cells, the renewable power compliance charge and the energy efficiency charge, and you will see that the company is adding about 10% to your electric bill, or about $170 a year on an average bill. Those charges will continue creeping up and could double without a mandate about offshore wind. If Delmarva is forced to buy offshore wind, your electric bill could rise an additional average of $200 a year over 20 years.
Because Delmarva buys power on long-term contracts, you can’t see the carbon tax cost. Two years ago, the cost was transparent on Virginia electric bills and added $75 a year, and the regional tax increased about threefold since then and could be about $200 a year now. Taken together, your green energy bill could rise to $600 a year, just for wind, solar and carbon taxes.
However, there’s more. Delaware’s Climate Action Plan foresees mandates to force all home heating and hot water systems to be fueled by electricity, which costs more than propane or natural gas. We already have a mandate to eventually force you to drive an electric vehicle, probably charged at home. All that extra electric demand will have to be met with unreliable wind and solar power, so a study will be ordered this year to possibly mandate backup storage batteries, costing hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. Utility-scale wind and solar projects are usually located far from existing power transmission and distribution lines, so billions of dollars will be invested in that infrastructure.
A recent study completed for the New England states surmised that a similar plan could double electric rates. The average Delaware residential electric bill is about $1,680 a year now. Ready to pay $1,680 more? Perhaps these recent high electric bills will wake folks up to the slow boil before they get cooked. In future elections, make sure you know what energy policies your candidates support. We can have clean, reliable, affordable power for a lot less than these so-called green policies.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
