Kansas City Power and Light officials say the cap and trade bill, which narrowly passed the House last week, will cause utility bills to skyrocket. Of course, there are some who say that is ridiculous. KMBC in Kansas City explored both sides in this piece:
3 comments:
True. Most of our power here in the midwest comes from coal plants, which make very very cheap electricity. The only electricity that is cheaper is hydroelectric power. All the climate change legislation proposed so far (carbon tax, cap and trade, mandatory carbon capture) makes coal power more expensive and pushes utilities to generate power in other ways, which are more expensive. (Yes, wind power is more expensive than coal power.) This means higher electric rates, but at this point it's all so preliminary it's nearly impossible to figure out how much electric rates will go up. The Obama administration's last minute decision to abandon the carbon credit auction plan made the House cap and trade bill a lot less likely to hike rates, but we still have a long way to go before this is set in stone.
Fearmongering.
I'm probably adding this comment too late for anyone to read it, but still thought I'd throw my two cents in. The bill gives away a huge percentage of allowances to regulated utilities through 2025. It also provides federal subsidies to convert older coal plants and provide newer ones with carbon capture and storage capability.
This gives power companies that primarily use coal a huge cushion to retrofit coal power plants to stop emitting carbon into the atmosphere, and to find clean renewable sources of energy like wind and solar.
In other words, KCP&L is just trying to scare you.
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