A backlash at the latest round of renewable-energy mandates
Morse and Senate Bill 252‘s other proponents get an earful from angry rural ratepayers and other stakeholders testifying against the measure as it passed its first committee at the Capitol earlier this week. What’s more—in a rare alignment—Colorado’s three largest daily newspapers representing its three largest metro areas editorialized against the measure. Some vehemently so.
Time for the proponents to regroup and rethink their legislation?
The proposal would increase from 10 to 25 percent the share of retail electric sales that the state’s rural electric cooperative associations, including Tri-State Generation and Transmission, must derive from renewable energy sources. This new mandate would apply to electric co-ops beginning in 2020.
The upshot of course would be to jack up utility bills. That’s because of the simple economics of compelling consumers to acquire more of their electricity from the likes of wind and solar power, which simply cost more per kilowatt-hour than does power generated by conventional fossil fuels.
To be sure, consumers in the state’s urban areas also endure renewable-energy mandates. However, as we noted last week, it costs more to provide utilities of any kind, renewable or otherwise, to rural regions. People live and work farther apart in Colorado’s farm and ranch country, making the infrastructure needed to serve them more expensive per customer. It would be atop that basic reality that the pending legislation would heap an added burden, having rural consumers pay more for costlier green energy.
As we also noted before, in light of the considerable costs the current “portfolio standards” have added to consumers’ utility bills across Colorado over the past several years–allowing utilities to hand ratepayers’ the additional tab for being required to derive ever more of their energy from expensive solar and wind power–we urge state lawmakers to take a timeout and assess just how much Colorado already is paying for renewables.
It seems editorial boards at Colorado’s top three newspapers agree.
The Denver Post–a supporter of renewable-energy portfolio standards–had this to say in a Wednesday editorial on SB 252 titled, “Moving too fast on renewable energy standard”:
…The bill was crafted by Democrats and environmentalists without input (from) those whom it impacts: the state’s second-largest utility and rural electric co-ops with more than 100,000 customers. That should be addressed…Here’s the Colorado Springs Gazette:
…Given the financial uncertainty and the potential economic impact on rural residents and businesses, we think supporters of the bill should consider lowering the proposed standard or extending the time frame…
…jamming a bill through the legislature without having a better understanding of its potential impacts strikes us as unnecessary and very likely unwise…
…Morse — a man who spends his time on a podium rather than in the seat of a John Deere — deigns to tell hard-pressed farmers and ranchers and cash-strapped small-town businesses their costs are going up. It’s just more of his I-know-what’s-best-for-you approach to public policy…And the Pueblo Chieftain:
Sure, Springs ratepayers won’t have to pay the piper as a result of this latest assault by Morse on families and businesses. Yet, if this attempt to dramatically increase renewable mandates for rural Coloradans succeeds, similar attempts to jack up costs for municipal utilities cannot be far behind…
…This is a direct assault on rural Colorado. This legislation had no input from rural constituencies. It was written behind closed doors with the environmental special interests…If we may sum up the gist of the editorial sentiment: The bill’s backers are moving too fast and going too far, and they failed to get input from the consumers who would be hit hardest.
Will the bill’s proponents heed this unanticipated feedback?
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