The following link was sent to me by one of the readers of my email chain.
The myth of affordable green energy is over
The Telegraph, Kathryn Porter / Opinion
October 10, 2023
When I read articles like this, I always try to find other articles written by them and get background on the authors to ascertain their frame of reference.
As a disclaimer, in researching the author’s writings, some of her positions and her revenue sources can be legitimately questioned as being biased.
That being said, while the author’s claims regarding affordability can be questioned in the UK where she is from, the claims are very true relative to energy costs in the United States. The cost per MWh in the UK is currently almost double that of NY State, even after the massive increases of the past two years since Indian Point closed. In NY State, the cost per MWh needed by the offshore wind installers is 72% higher than the current market cost. NY State already has some of the highest utility costs in the nation prior to what is being requested from the wind developers.
If the current 4.3 cent/KWh cost to the utilities yields a 9 cent/KWh energy charge on a ratepayers bill, then using the same ratio on a 7.3 cent/KWh utility cost needed by the wind developers will result in a 15 cent/KWh cost to the ratepayers. Couple that with a 15% increase in the supply charges from the utilities that has been approved by the PSC for the next three years and the taxes applied to the higher rates, and the 26 cents per KWh (all inclusive after taxes) that I paid on one of my recent bills could very shortly rise to close to 40 cents per KWh downstate where 60% of the state’s population lives. Additionally, the 7.3 cents per KWh is based upon a recent request by wind developers in the UK where they have Jack Ships to do the installations. In the US, where there are no jack Ships as yet, the installation costs will be higher and the rate request will also be higher. If the Federal Reserve raises interest rates in the near future, as they have stated they will do, it will go higher still.
From a personal standpoint, that will not be debilitating, however for many ratepayers in NY State, it will mean not eating, not paying the rent, or not paying their utility bill. There are already 1.2 million ratepayers $1.8 billion in arrears, an average of about $1500 for each delinquent ratepayer. Simply saying that the state will subsidize people’s utility bills doesn’t work in the long term. The money has to come from somewhere and last I checked, NY State can’t print its own currency.
This policy is going to initiate a mass exodus of people and businesses from the state making the costs of these projects even more expensive as the costs will be distributed across fewer ratepayers.
Recently, in Bavaria, the Green party got its proverbial butt kicked in the elections. They are considered the enemy of the people by many. This is similar to what happened in Ontario a few years ago and should be a warning to those promoting these policies. They are overreaching and by trying to move too fast, they will end up with nothing. The following, below my signature, is from an email that I sent to a few people recently. Germany has been trying a policy the same as NY State’s CLCPA for 33 years and they have not achieved their carbon objectives but they have doubled their energy costs.
So if the goal is high energy costs coupled with high carbon emissions, then NY State should just keep proceeding with the current plan. However, if the goal is trying to reduce carbon emission in reality, while keeping costs low, then they need to rapidly rethink what they are doing before they start throwing good money after bad.
If they need a scapegoat for political cover, then blame Andrew Cuomo. He is the one that closed Indian Point, driving up utility rates and raising carbon emissions, and then filled the Climate Action Council, that came up with this ridiculous plan, with a bunch of hacks that had no business being anywhere near utility planning.
Rich
This was in the Sunday NY Times. It relates to recent elections in Germany.
Bavarian Election Results Signal Trouble for German Government
A telltale paragraph states the following:
The Greens are despised.
Throughout the campaign, conservative and populist parties made the left-leaning environmentalist Green party a stand-in for the governing coalition of Mr. Scholz.
Though the Greens are just one of three parties in the coalition, along with the center-left Social Democrats and the pro-business Free Democrats, they were singled out for special antipathy.
“The Greens are the new enemy,” said Andrea Römmele, a political analyst at the Hertie School, a university in Berlin. “It’s a framing that the Greens are somehow the party of bans and the opponent in a culture war.”
People vote their pocketbook and German Energy Policy has not served them well. Something similar happened in Ontario, Canada a few years ago.