Learning the high cost of Big Green
New York is eager to move away from fossil fuels. Customers, though, will feel the switch in their wallets. The state has largely funded the recent investments in clean energy, electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps and new transmission lines incrementally through piecemeal decisions by the quasi-independent Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. But larger bills for the aggressive transition are increasingly coming due, and it has the potential for sticker shock for ratepayers — a byproduct of the tremendous complexity of shifting from from fossil fuels to heat and power homes and businesses.
Some of the costs are already impacting utility bills, but more are set to hit in the coming years as projects come online. “Financing them exclusively through rates, particularly on residential, is the least progressive mechanism for financing anything. We make no judgment whether you have the money to pay or you don’t have the money to pay,” John Howard, a commissioner on the Public Service Commission, said at last month’s meeting. While lawmakers’ concerns are growing over the impact on consumers, they have few levers to shift course on the already-approved costs.
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Democrat-controlled jurisdictions are not allowing consumers to decide whether the cost is worth it. They should also factor in the fact that the projections of global warming have not been met. The poles were supposed to be ice-free by now and coastal cities were supposed to be underwater by now. It has not happened.
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