Much has been made of the potential financial costs of climate change legislation by conservatives, but as it turns out, the American Clean Energy & Security Act will cost the average citizen just 23 cents a day.
Reps. Markey and Waxman asked the Energy Information Agency to analyze the cost to consumers, to put out-of-control estimates by anti-climate-bill pundits and lawmakers to rest. They delivered, with a report (PDF) that projects the annual cost of the ACES to be roughly $83, adjusted for inflation, by 2030.
ACESA increases energy prices, but effects on electricity and natural gas bills of consumers are substantially mitigated through 2025 by the allocation of free allowances to regulated electricity and natural gas distribution companies. Except for the ACESA No International/Limited Case, electricity prices in five of the six main ACESA cases range from 9.5 to 9.6 cents per kilowatthour in 2020, only 3 to 4 percent above the Reference Case level.6 Average impacts on electricity prices in 2030 are projected to be substantially greater, reflecting both higher allowance prices and the phase-out of the free allocation of allowances to distributors between 2025 and 2030. By 2030, electricity prices in the ACESA Basic Case are 12.0 cents per kilowatthour, 19 percent above the Reference Case level, with a wider band of 11.1 cents to 17.8 cents (10 to 77 percent above the Reference Case level) across all six main policy cases.
So the question is, do Americans want to pony up 23 cents a day and take care of this problem before it blows up into an all-out global nightmare, or just wait until the cost of fixing it reaches epic proportions?
Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Flickr user Macinate
