Data is always handy for measuring where things are and will be, and the federal government’s energy statistics are painting an ugly picture of the present and future when it comes the loud push to electrify all of our useful, well-functioning appliances.
The sad part is the policies behind those misguided effortsare already costing Americans and forcing those in poverty or on fixed incomes to make choices between heating their homes or having enough food in the coming winter. That unacceptable situation comes in a winter fraught with the increasingly real risk of blackouts in the dead of the 2023-24 winter for 50% of the country.
The annual Consumer Energy Alliance winter energy costs analysis finds that Americans would have paid $137.4 billion more for their home heating and energy bills this winter if plans to mandate the use of electricity only for heating, cooling and cooking had been in place. Thankfully, those efforts have so far failed at the federal level and families that have energy options, including the use of natural gas, will benefit by saving an estimated 21% this winter.
The $137.4 billion figure comes from residential energy cost data the Department of Energy is legally required to update every year, and slipped out the back door with a Federal Register item in August.
This DOE report shows a stunning 32% average price increase, ranging from 16% to 55%, since 2021 for electricity, natural gas, heating oil, propane and kerosene. This is certainly nothing to brag about, and politically risky. If there is a better example of how the current Administration’s existing and proposed energy policies are costing Americans – taxpayers and voters alike – I can’t think of it.
The threat isn’t over as the movement persists to cut carbon emissions by mandating the use of electricity, and thus restricting energy choices like natural gas, for cooking or heating homes and buildings. Activist-driven campaigns are attempting to push states and cities to ban natural gas via legislation or building codes. This approach is already demonstrably failing in California and soon to come to New York and any state that chooses to ignore the crystal-clear evidence shown by the wreckage of Europe, wheresimilar plans fell victim to the realities of energy markets.
Forget that electrification would mean replacing over 200 million home appliances that use natural gas, including furnaces, stoves, water heaters and dryers. And consider the cost to homeowners and building operators of switching to all-electric, which requires costly upgrades to electric panels, ductwork and appliances.
CEA has examined the cost to switch a household from natural gas to all-electric major appliances for water heating, drying clothes, and cooking in many states including Virginia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The average savings drain ranges from $25,000 to nearly $29,000 by our conservative estimates. That does not factor in the acute shortage of electricians.
Nor does it include the long-term cost increase caused when our electricity choices are reduced, which the $137.4 billion figure shows in technicolor. We cannot invest untold billions in new energy systems while eliminating functional ones and expect energy bills to go anywhere but up for families and businesses.
Sorry folks, decrease the supply, prices go up. It’s a law that is impossible to break.
The other road leads to chipping away at our economy, perpetually higher energy bills and more Americans having to choose to heat or eat.
Obey