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PJM: Carbon Controls Could Cost Consumers
Grid
operator notes electric bills could rise with levies on CO2
emissions.
By
Todd Cunningham
Reprinted by permission
from Electric Co-Op Today
Legislation with carbon control provisions similar
to those in bills previously introduced in Congress could hike
individual consumers’ annual electric bills by between $72 and
more than $400 in the near term, a study by the nation’s largest
regional transmission operator (RTO) found.
A
control regime containing cap-and-trade or carbon tax policies
with prices of $60 per short ton of CO2 emitted could
cost a residential consumer using 750 kilowatt-hours of
electricity an additional $34 a month, or $408 annually, the PJM
Interconnection said.
CO2
prices of $10 and $40 per short ton would increase the cost impact
on this typical consumer by about $72 and $276 annually. PJM
indicated in a report, “Potential Effects of Proposed Climate
Change Policies on PJM’s Energy Market.”
The
CO2 prices utilized by PJM came from federal Energy
Information Administration and Environmental Protection Agency
analyses of several previously-introduced bills that may form the
basis for legislation in the current Congress.
The
bills included S.280, introduced by Sens. Joseph Lieberman,
I-Conn., and John McCain, R-Ariz.; S.1766, introduced by Sens.
Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; and S.2191,
introduced by Lieberman and then-Sen. John Warner, R-Va.
Looking
at the implications of these analyses for its own region, which
includes
North Carolina
, PJM said that CO2
prices at the $10, $40 and $60 levels could increase market-wide
expenditures by $5.9 billion, $23 billion and $36 billion annually
during the first few years. The RTO’s market encompasses 51
million consumers in 13 states in the Mid-Atlantic,
Midwest
and Southeast,
including N.C. Electric Membership Corporation (of which
Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative is a member) and other
North Carolina
electric utilities,
as well as the
District of Columbia
.
The
report noted that the projected price hikes could increase the
market penetration of energy efficiency and some types of demand
response, which could reduce total consumption and customer costs
for electricity, somewhat mitigating wholesale price impacts.
But
only at relatively low CO2 prices of $10 per ton, and a
natural gas price of $6.44 per million British thermal units,
could the increase in wholesale price and market-wide expenditures
be completely offset through reductions in energy consumption, the
report said.
PJM
said it hoped the information it presented would “inform the
discussion as the issues associated with climate change policy
continue to be deliberated.”
Note:
Proposed carbon legislation is a concern for all electric
consumers. To share your concerns with Congress, contact your
federal and state lawmakers.
| NC
CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION |
|
Senator
Kay Hagan
B40-D Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-6342
www.hagan.senate.gov |
Senator
Richard Burr
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3154
www.burr.senate.gov |
Representative Walter
Jones, Jr.
2333 Rayburn
House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3415
www.jones.house.gov |
Representative G.K.
Butterfield
413 Cannon House
Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3101
www.butterfield.house.gov |
| KEY COMMITTEE CHAIRS |
|
Representative Henry
Waxman
2204 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3976
www.waxman.house.gov |
Representative Ed
Markey
2108 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2836
www.markey.house.gov |
Senator Jeff Bingaman
703 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 224-5521
www.bingaman.senate.gov |
Senator Barbara Boxer
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 224-3553
www.boxer.senate.gov |
|
THE
WHITE HOUSE
President Barack
Obama
1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
www.whitehouse.gov/contact |
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