States' Mandate for Green Energy Drives UP Costs : Really?

Of course this is all a big surprise, right? No the states knew this would cause increses in electrical rates from the beginning. Why would anyone believe by mandating energy resources that can not even come close to supply a small fraction of the energy needs of the states but cost many time more then fossil fuel to produce.
 
Where is the rocket science here? Why would the voting public believe such simple numbers coming form the politicians that all this solar and wind power will be a good thing but won't will cost more? And what about Ethanol?
 
Ethanol is subsidized by more then .50 cents a gallon to make it competitive, only even with this subside, the cost to produce Ethanol cost far more then fossil fuel to produce. This is common knowledge. All the general public has to do is open their eyes and hears to find out information to make informed decisions.
 
Still, the majority falls for the rhetoric from the progressives, vote for us to continue this insanity so that living with dependence and poverty is seen as a good thing.

States Show Folly of Energy Mandates
Source: Grover Norquist and Patrick Gleason, "States Show Folly of Energy Mandates," Politico, April 2, 2013

April 9, 2013

Many think the next play by the Obama admiration will be for a national renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) that would mandate that a certain percentage of the nation's electricity be produced from renewable sources. Fortunately there are the states to show us the negative impact that a national renewable energy standard would have, say Grover Norquist and Patrick Gleason of Americans for Tax Reform.

• Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia already have a renewable energy mandate on the books.
• These mandates inject government into the business decisions of utility companies, requiring them to procure energy from more costly and less reliable sources than they otherwise would.
• The increased energy costs produced by renewable mandates are passed along to consumers in the form of higher utility bills.
• According to the Institute for Energy Research, utility bills in states with a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) are 40 percent higher on average than in states without one.

In 2007, North Carolina became the first state in the South to impose a renewable energy portfolio standard. North Carolina residents are all too aware of the way in which energy mandates drive up consumer costs.

• During the decade immediately preceding enactment of the state's renewable energy mandate, utility bills in North Carolina grew by an average of 1.7 percent per year.
• Since the mandate's imposition in 2009, utility bills have increase by an average of 2.29 percent -- a 33 percent jump compared to the annual rate of growth prior to passage of the state's RPS.
• A John Locke Foundation study found that North Carolina's renewable energy mandate, if it remains in place, would increase electricity costs for consumers by $1.8 billion and result in the loss of 3,500 jobs by 2021, the year in which the law is fully phased in and requires North Carolina utilities to generate 7.5 percent of their electricity from renewable sources.
• The report also found that the state RPS will depress economic growth and reduce in-state investment.