Renewable energy, so-called because it attempts to capture natural resources and convert them into electricity, is neither cheap, scalable, nor climate-friendly. They will never be affordable because the material needed to make them isn’t, and the decommission costs are ugly, both economically and environmentally.
Renewable portfolios force generators to include them in the mix, driving up costs, so any world where they have to be there should expect electricity to never be anything approaching cheap, and New England is a fine example. [MacDonald: New England’s Net Zero Mission … Is Impossible]
The American Legislative Exchange Council says, “Report: New England electricity prices among the highest nationwide.”
Vermont (41), Maine (42), New Hampshire (44), Massachusetts (46), Rhode Island (47) and Connecticut (48) ranked among the 10 most expensive. New York (43), Alaska (45), California (49) and Hawaii (50) rounded out the top 10.
You have to tell me. I live here, but I’ve also been advocating for common-sense reform for nearly two decades, with a regular smattering of warnings that have proven likely, if not outright, in recent years, thanks to the chuckleheads in the EU.
The wind and solar plan is unaffordable, unsustainable, unreplaceable, and never achieves current demand, forget about our glorious utopian future where candle making to scale could prove to be a lucrative business choice.
The report also suggests “establishing clearer statutory priorities around affordability, reliability, and domestic production could help address cost pressures while strengthening long-term grid stability.”
New Hampshire has made some moves in that direction, and there has been a lot of talk about small-scale reactors and cutting ties with ISO New England, the regional grid operator. But New Hampshire isn’t the only net exporter of electricity in New England. They all are, except Massachusetts.
It defies logic that states with more energy than they need should have some of the nation’s highest electric rates, but they do, because of state and regional mix, regulatory barriers or burdens, and the grid operator.[MacDonald: NH Needs to Do what It Does Best, But with Electricity]
If you have policy demands that increase use without addressing supply or infrastructure, like electric heat pumps replacing oil or gas, and Electric vehicles, expect to pay a lot more. They have, and we do. New Hampshire suffers on the grid at the hands of surrounding states, drunk on the lie that we are ready to go electric across the board.
Without getting into the weeds again, on why no experts or well-read or informed “anyone” would launch that “plane” before we knew for certain the wings were attached properly and strong enough to keep us off the ground, for the duration, that’s what happened. There is no dire need now, nor likely ever. The agenda is entirely political, and more than one progressive has said it out loud. This is about forcing America away from a free-market economy and capitalism. It has nothing to do with saving the planet.
I’ll accept that a lot of Democrats, including elected ones, just accepted the consensus without challenge. Refusing to consider other experts and their contrary research is inexcusable. Pillorying and censoring them is damnable. The math doesn’t work. We lack the resources. And none of it can ever be possible without fossil fuels.
Our ridiculously high electric rates are entirely the result of decades of wrong-thinking, absent planning, driven by emotion.
New Hampshire is right to get off the ISO grid. It should generate its own power as cheaply as possible and then sell the excess to the highest bidder, which ought to make our rates go down further.
The rest of New England needs to get its head out of its ass. The Hartford Basin probably has shale gas, but it is not currently cost-effective to look to be sure, and not just for geologic reasons. Massachusetts is an enemy of affordable energy. All of New England is currently except New Hampshire. They are committed to a life of dependency and high prices in the name of carbon control, regardless of cost.[Is There Hope For Cheaper Energy In New England?]
This is short-sighted, ill-conceived, and, as noted, results in New England electricity prices being among the highest in the nation.
It doesn’t have to be that way, and while we are making progress nationally and in New Hampshire, one lost election, and we’re all back on the train to higher prices, less reliability, dependency, lack of capacity, the threat of rolling brownouts and blackouts, and all the other economic consequences that follow.
Electricity and energy prices make everything cost more.
And no one sets up shop or creates new jobs if there is a similar or better market where energy is cheaper and more reliable.
The only thing that thrives there is progressive government, and that’s the last thing anyone should want if they know what’s good for them, which clearly too many do not.
