It may seem odd to discuss monthly electric bills today in light of all the important events around the world. Terrorism, war, disease and economic growth are clearly much more essential subjects to consider than the size of one's bill for electricity, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk about the bills anyway, so here goes:
There are a series of items that have been changing the nation's electric bills rather rapidly.
First, we have the idea that electric generation has to be run so as to meet all the objections of the environmentalists (whether or not those objections make sense.) Ten years ago, about half of the electricity in the USA came from coal-burning plants. Then we got the war on coal by president Obama and the EPA. As Obama promised when he ran for office in 2008, he has pushed through regulations which have made it economically impossible for utility companies to build new coal fired plants. Other countries like China are building enormous numbers of these plants, but in America we are closing them. Perfectly good plants that burn coal in a substantially clean way are being shuttered and the rate payers (you) are paying the cost of replacing them. Now consider this fact: the USA has more coal than any other country in the world. Indeed, just from the coal already discovered, there is enough supply just in the USA to meet all of our energy needs for the next 350 years. Coal produced here is therefore less expensive than coal produced almost anywhere else in the world. Forcing the coal fired plants to shut down, then, not only requires customers to pay for the cost of replacing the plants, but it also gets rid of a very inexpensive source of energy for a more expensive one.
The utilities have switched their new plants mainly to burning natural gas. These plants are cleaner than the coal plants. Thanks to the use horizontal drilling and fracking, natural gas production in the USA has also soared while the price for the gas has fallen. This surfeit of natural gas should act to limit the price increases in electric bills resulting from dumping coal. Now, however, the environmentalists are out to get natural gas too. Natural gas, you see, is a fossil fuel. Environmentalists want to use only renewable energy like wind and solar. Of course, current technology makes that goal unattainable unless the price of electricity were to rise by a factor of ten or so. Such a price rise would destroy the US economy and leave many Americans without the ability to afford any electricity. That outcome, however, does not seem to faze many of the environmentalists.
The environmentalists have tried to legislate the use of renewables despite their cost. For example, here in Connecticut the state will subsidize any homeowner who installs solar panels on the roof. Not only will the state pay nearly the entire cost of installation, but it also requires the local electric utility to buy any surplus energy that the panels generate at a price well above the cost at which the utility can generate the power itself. There are weeks when I get twenty calls from companies that want me to put solar panels on my roof "at no cost" to me. The program, however, is a dud. Connecticut does not have a particularly sunny climate; all we have is a lopsided Democrat majority in our legislature so any scheme to promote renewable fuels gets pushed through even though the result is that our electric bills keep getting higher. You see, the electricity that the utility buys from these panels costs more, so the customers are charged more on their bills. Those in Connecticut who were living from paycheck to paycheck are now falling behind as they watch their electric bills rise and rise.
Then there is also the issue of nuclear power plants. Nearly 35 years ago, there was a calamitous problem at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. Nobody dies; nobody was injured; no radiation was released. Nevertheless, that event coupled with a movie called The China Syndrome scared people away from allowing nuclear power plants to operate. Oh, I know what happened at Fukashima. One does have to wonder at the wisdom of building a nuclear power plant in an earthquake zone near the sea which has periodic tsunamis. There are plenty of places in the USA, however, that do not face that sort of danger. Had America continued to build nuclear power plants over the last thirty years, our current bills for electricity would be substantially lower.
There are other issues here, but these are the main ones. The cost of power is not something that ought be ignored. It affects too much in our society. It is worth considering.
There are a series of items that have been changing the nation's electric bills rather rapidly.
First, we have the idea that electric generation has to be run so as to meet all the objections of the environmentalists (whether or not those objections make sense.) Ten years ago, about half of the electricity in the USA came from coal-burning plants. Then we got the war on coal by president Obama and the EPA. As Obama promised when he ran for office in 2008, he has pushed through regulations which have made it economically impossible for utility companies to build new coal fired plants. Other countries like China are building enormous numbers of these plants, but in America we are closing them. Perfectly good plants that burn coal in a substantially clean way are being shuttered and the rate payers (you) are paying the cost of replacing them. Now consider this fact: the USA has more coal than any other country in the world. Indeed, just from the coal already discovered, there is enough supply just in the USA to meet all of our energy needs for the next 350 years. Coal produced here is therefore less expensive than coal produced almost anywhere else in the world. Forcing the coal fired plants to shut down, then, not only requires customers to pay for the cost of replacing the plants, but it also gets rid of a very inexpensive source of energy for a more expensive one.
The utilities have switched their new plants mainly to burning natural gas. These plants are cleaner than the coal plants. Thanks to the use horizontal drilling and fracking, natural gas production in the USA has also soared while the price for the gas has fallen. This surfeit of natural gas should act to limit the price increases in electric bills resulting from dumping coal. Now, however, the environmentalists are out to get natural gas too. Natural gas, you see, is a fossil fuel. Environmentalists want to use only renewable energy like wind and solar. Of course, current technology makes that goal unattainable unless the price of electricity were to rise by a factor of ten or so. Such a price rise would destroy the US economy and leave many Americans without the ability to afford any electricity. That outcome, however, does not seem to faze many of the environmentalists.
The environmentalists have tried to legislate the use of renewables despite their cost. For example, here in Connecticut the state will subsidize any homeowner who installs solar panels on the roof. Not only will the state pay nearly the entire cost of installation, but it also requires the local electric utility to buy any surplus energy that the panels generate at a price well above the cost at which the utility can generate the power itself. There are weeks when I get twenty calls from companies that want me to put solar panels on my roof "at no cost" to me. The program, however, is a dud. Connecticut does not have a particularly sunny climate; all we have is a lopsided Democrat majority in our legislature so any scheme to promote renewable fuels gets pushed through even though the result is that our electric bills keep getting higher. You see, the electricity that the utility buys from these panels costs more, so the customers are charged more on their bills. Those in Connecticut who were living from paycheck to paycheck are now falling behind as they watch their electric bills rise and rise.
Then there is also the issue of nuclear power plants. Nearly 35 years ago, there was a calamitous problem at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. Nobody dies; nobody was injured; no radiation was released. Nevertheless, that event coupled with a movie called The China Syndrome scared people away from allowing nuclear power plants to operate. Oh, I know what happened at Fukashima. One does have to wonder at the wisdom of building a nuclear power plant in an earthquake zone near the sea which has periodic tsunamis. There are plenty of places in the USA, however, that do not face that sort of danger. Had America continued to build nuclear power plants over the last thirty years, our current bills for electricity would be substantially lower.
There are other issues here, but these are the main ones. The cost of power is not something that ought be ignored. It affects too much in our society. It is worth considering.
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