Power prices are gonna rise —shame, they don’t have to

 Electricity rates have increased substantially in recent years.

But if you think your power bill is expensive now, just wait another decade and you’ll be longing for these good old days.

The US, like other developed nations, will see historic increases in electricity demand due to the electrification of vehicles and heating.

The nation is also retiring conventional base-load power plants, which are slowly being replaced by less-reliable green-generations systems like wind turbines and solar panels.

This trend will be far more pronounced in the Northeastern US, including my home state of Connecticut, where I am a state senator and a ranking member of the legislature’s Energy Committee.

According to ISO New England — which regulates power across the Northeast — regional electricity demand will increase by around 70% by 2040.

The region’s largest utility, Eversource, expects their demand to increase by 150% by 2050.

But supply is not keeping up.

Proposed wind farms are suffering from major cost overruns of upwards of 50% — on top of the fact that the price of the original wind contracts was already more than twice the wholesale cost of electricity. 

4

Protestors outside the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York State, which was shut down in 2021 owing to concerns that it was too costly to maintain.Getty Images

As a result, many wind developers are taking significant hits to their stock price while others are pulling out of the American market entirely. 

We all want affordable, reliable and clean energy.

But economic trends — along with an endless array of bad policy decisions — are making this harder to achieve.

Although these problems are difficult to solve, federal, regional and state policymakers must do their best.

One low-hanging fruit is for states to reform their Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), like we did in Connecticut this year, which will reduce costs and increase reliability of the electricity grid.

4

A wind turbine along a rural Connecticut road. Eco-conscious power-generation is gaining momentum just as the nation’s need for power has never been greater.Alexander – stock.adobe.com

Some 36 states have an RPS that requires a certain percentage of power to be generated from clean energy sources. And this subsidizes those generators at the expense of others.

The problem is that almost all states exclude nuclear energy from RPS eligibility and limit the amount of hydropower that is eligible, as well. This makes no sense.

Hydropower and nuclear energy emit less carbon than their solar counterparts and operate far more reliably — even when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind fails to blow. 

On top of that, existing nuclear and hydropower facilities — many of which are being imprudently shuttered — cost less to operate and keep online than politically popular alternatives.

4

A section of turbine in London, CT. Such projects are becoming increasingly popular, but are also being met with massive cost overruns.TNS

For example, Connecticut’s Orsted wind project was contracted at roughly $100/MWh, excluding hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure build-out, roughly twice the cost of a power purchase agreement with the Millstone nuclear plant.

It was against this backdrop that the co-ranking member of Connecticut’s Energy Committee and I introduced a plan in January to make all nuclear and hydropower eligible for RPS certification. 

We wanted to level the playing field so that all “clean” energy opportunities are considered for our state, not just those typically deemed as “green.”

In testimony this past February, the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority predicted that such reforms could lead to significant savings for consumers.

Ultimately, we compromised with our Democratic counterparts — who hold a majority in the legislature — to allow for more hydropower and any newly-constructed nuclear power to be eligible to meet the state’s requirement.

The change in Connecticut’s RPS makes us only the second state after Indiana to include nuclear energy in their Renewable Portfolio Standard.

The reform is simple but can substantially reduce the cost of clean energy programs while strengthening our increasingly fragile grid.

If this reform was in place years ago, concerns about rolling blackouts over the next decade would be less serious.

4

Despite fears of radiation leakage in the wake of the Three Mile Island accident decades ago, responsible, well-managed nuclear power makes sense both for the environment and economy.

Nuclear plants that were shuttered for economic reasons, like Indian Point, Vermont Yankee, Oyster Creek, Pilgrim and others, might still be operating and producing power. Same goes for many hydropower facilities.

There are dozens of additional states that could easily make nuclear and hydropower eligible to meet their existing Renewable Portfolio Standards.

This would not only keep legacy nuclear and hydropower facilities online, but increase the likelihood of new ones—especially as nuclear technology improves—being constructed.

This is a simple way for state lawmakers to cut electricity bills in the near term and reduce the likelihood of rolling blackouts in the long term. But we need to act now before it’s too late – before the lights go out. 

Ryan Fazio (R-36) is a state senator in Connecticut.

https://nypost.com/2023/12/02/opinion/power-prices-are-gonna-rise-shame-they-dont-have-to/