This article was sent to me today by someone on my email list.
Filings show N.Y. green energy could cost 64 percent more on wholesale level
Beyond the 64% cost increase that will be placed on the backs of NY State rate payers is this excerpt from the article, in italics.
It noted that, since 2016, just eight of 117 projects in Tier I, or the renewable energy group, are operating so far.
How do they plan to transition to renewables when they can’t get anything built? Even the Democratic heads of the Agriculture Committee and the Environmental Committee have opposed at least one of the projects.
This situation is untenable.
Regarding the 64% price increase on utility bills is this survey from 2019 that says that people would be willing to pay an average of $33.72 per month more for renewable energy.
Who is willing to pay more for renewable energy?
To put that into perspective, if your current utility bill is $52.68 per month, then a 64% increase would be $33.72. I am currently selling a studio apartment in NY City and the empty apartment only has the refrigerator running, no one opening the refrigerator door, no lights or Air Conditioning, and it has a $47 monthly utility bill. How does that fit in with the acceptable cost increase for utilities. People will have to live with no lights or air conditioning and only open the refrigerator once per day. Don’t use a microwave, an induction stove, and certainly don’t operate a heat pump to stay warm.
Then there is this article from July, 2022 that states that people on average would be willing to pay 10% more for “Green” energy that has this excerpt.
In general, Americans say they would be willing to pay 10% more per month for green energy-related consumption, the poll found. Of course, this varied based on whether someone was a believer in green energy vs. a detractor
One flaw with this survey is that unless the 10% is related to an actual dollar amount, the result is nebulous. People will choose 10% because it’s a nice round number. If that 10% gets converted to an actual dollar figure, the result might be different.
Regardless, whether it is $33.72 per month more or 10% per month more, it is most certainly not 64% more. Someone with a $150 utility bill will be paying $96 more per month or $1150 more per year. If they are in a 20% combined tax bracket (state, local, federal), that is about $1450 in increased wages that will be needed just to pay the utility increase and $150 per month is not a large utility bill in the downstate area where the majority of the population lives.
Loss of public support for this endeavor because of the enormous cost burden that is about to be placed upon the NY State rate payer is going to result in failure and leave a severely broken system in its wake with inadequate generation and high carbon emissions. People care about the environment, but not when they can’t feed their families and that is where we are headed. We only need to look at the $1.8 billion in arrears currently outstanding for NY State utility customers. 1.2 million customers chose food on the table over paying the utility. From the following link published by the NY State Comptrollers Office is this excerpt in italics
In March 2022, one in eight residential customers were in arrears—more than 1.2 million customers statewide, with $1.8 billion owed to utility companies across the State.
Distribution of Utility Arrears in New York State
Good luck getting people that can’t even pay their bill now to pay an additional 64%. If Germany is any indicator, it will be 100% more by the time that this process gets half completed.
There are far less expensive ways to get as good or better results at a fraction of the cost.
Rich