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Let’s Get Real About Energy
There’s a lot of talk about energy lately. The subject is being covered in newspapers, on cable news, talk radio and the topic of many speeches from our elected officials in Washington, DC. I think we can all agree that the country needs a strong energy policy that strives for energy independence from foreign sources and is sensitive to environmental concerns.
At Piedmont EMC our mission is first and foremost to deliver affordable and reliable power to our member owners. It’s why electric cooperatives were created and remains our mission today. However, Piedmont EMC and other electric utilities, especially in the southeast, are now experiencing one of the most challenging times in our history to maintain affordability.
In President Obama’s 2010 budget, the President seeks to raise $80 billion a year starting in 2012, by adopting a cap and trade system where limits would be set (caps) on how much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses industries can emit. Industries such as electric utilities would have to purchase carbon credits to offset CO2 emissions from coal generating plants. The cost of these emission allowances would have to be passed on to consumers through higher electric rates.Unfortunately this plan will cause substantial rate increases for states that receive a lot of electricity from coal generation.
In North Carolina almost 50% of the power is generated from generating plants that use coal as their fuel. Congress is also considering legislation that would increase the requirements to generate more electricity from renewable energy resources. A North Carolina law was passed in 2007, which requires Piedmont to purchase up to 10% of our energy that we sell to our members from renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, landfill gas and biomass by 2018. We can also meet the requirements of the law through new energy efficiency programs.
Energy from renewable resources can be considerably more costly than power we currently buy from conventional sources such as coal, nuclear, natural gas and oil. Federal renewable legislation currently being considered could more than double our requirements to purchase renewable energy.A quick back of the envelope analysis of what Congress is considering, combining renewable and energy efficiency mandates as well as costs associated with decreasing greenhouse gasses to battle climate change could add as much as an additional $40 a month to the average Cooperative consumers’ electric bills in North Carolina. That is an increase of more than $480 a year and this may be a low figure as carbon costs may rise considerably more depending on decisions made by the administration and congress in coming months. So where will much of the money go? The current 2010 federal budget shows that very little of this money will be used for renewable energy, energy efficiency or research. The majority of the money will be used for tax cuts for low and middle income families.
Your Cooperative supports a balanced solution that doesn’t send all of your energy dollars to Washington, DC. Let’s look for lower cost solutions that are sustainable over time and get us to the goal, energy independence and protecting our environment.Learn more and find out what you can do to help at: www.findabalancedsolution.com. Let’s get real about our energy future and work together with Congress to solve our problems. In North Carolina I know we can do both.
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