Utilities Are Going All-In on Leftist Net-Zero Agenda at Ratepayers’ Expense
By James Taylor, H. Sterling Burnett, Linnea Lueken
Published November 1, 2024
Big utilities are undertaking electric power supply plans that will make supply less reliable as demand increases
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Big utilities have hired a massive army of lobbyists to champion expensive and unreliable wind power, solar power, and an aggressive “net-zero” carbon dioxide agenda at the expense of affordable, reliable, and abundant conventional energy sources. They are trying to convince conservative lawmakers that they are friends of ratepayers and the environment, but both claims are false. Nor are they for “all of the above” energy; in fact, they are for eliminating coal and natural gas from America’s power mix.
According to a new study by The Heartland Institute, a national free-market think tank, electricity demand is growing, and is expected to continue to grow, especially with the boom in computing data centers and server farms for technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Likewise, the Energy Information Administration says the push for electric vehicles will drive electricity rates up further. Despite this, utilities are undertaking electric power supply plans that will make supply less reliable as demand increases.
To prevent accelerating rate increases and shore up grid reliability, The Heartland Institute suggests requiring utilities to make the prime focus of their efforts reliability and affordability. To do this, states should:
https://heartland.org/publications/utilities-are-going-all-in-on-leftist-net-zero-agenda-at-ratepayers-expense/
