There are all kinds of mandates coming out of Washington DC. I don't think that most of you have any idea how much these mandates cost. The reason that our politicians do this is to pull the wool over our eyes so that we don't know that we are all getting screwed. That is the point of this blog.
This is going to be a blog that has to be read slowly because I am using a lot of numbers. First we need to establish an average monthly electric bill at $200. Yours could be bigger or smaller but this is what I am going to use for this blog. I am also going to use an average cost per KWH of $0.15. I know that many of you have no idea what a KWH is, but bear with me. Most of your electric company do not produce the electricity that they sell you. They buy it on the open market. I figure that they pay about 25% of your bill for the actual electricity. The other cost is for all the power lines and support cost that they have to pass along to you and me. That means that, with my numbers, they pay about $0.0375/KWH. Now for the big point. Green power has a cost about 10 times that from coal and natural gas. That means it will cost your power company $0.375/KWH and they have to pass that extra cost along to you and me. Here is where the mandate comes in. Many states have a mandate that your power company has to provide at least 10% green energy. Some states have a lot more. For most of you who are blind about the cost of these mandates, you think that green energy is a good idea and your politicians take advantage of that stupidity.
Based on the numbers above, here is the impact on your electric bill if your state had a 10% mandate. Rather than a normal electric bill for $200, your new bill would be $245. As the mandate percentage gets larger, so does your bill.
Here is a totally different slant on the problem. Rather than our government passing a mandate, what if they just passed a simple tax? Now, the extra cost of that mandate would be out in the open so we could all see how much it cost. In the case of Obamacare, the courts held that the mandate in Obamacare was actually a "tax" and thus legal. If it was a "tax" for Obamacare, then why not for the mandates for green energy? If that were the case, the power company could add the tax to our bill so that we could see it and then we could "deduct" it from our income tax like any other tax. The tax money could then be given to the power company so that they could pay the "extra" cost of "green energy". That would put this whole business of mandates out in the open where we could all see it and judge if it was "worth it" or not. How else can we judge if it is "worth it" or not if we don't even know how much the mandate costs?
Are you starting to see how we are screwed by all these mandates? Are you starting to see how we all need to start demanding that these mandates be put out in the open so we can all see how much they cost? It is my opinion that if we all knew what they cost, then we would not be so silent about them. When was the last time you complained about a mandate? Never! That is the problem.
PS--I did not include the calculations for the new electric bill of $245, but I think that most of you are smart enough to do it with the figures that I have provided.
PS--How about some more facts about green energy? First off, green energy is not available 24/7 so it still has to be backed up with exactly the same capital investment in coal and natural gas energy. The cost of energy from coal and natural gas will go "up" because of the same "fixed cost" associated with have to be divided by lower plant utilization. Interesting? The value of green energy that is not available 24/7 is only "worth" about 50% of conventional energy. How would you like it if you had to depend on green energy 100% of the time? Not so good! The cost of green energy is at least 5 or 10 times as expensive as conventional energy. The capital investment in green energy only operates at about 20% to 25% of its full capacity. No business could be profitable with this low of capital utilization. Could you afford a home that you only lived in 20% of the time?
This is going to be a blog that has to be read slowly because I am using a lot of numbers. First we need to establish an average monthly electric bill at $200. Yours could be bigger or smaller but this is what I am going to use for this blog. I am also going to use an average cost per KWH of $0.15. I know that many of you have no idea what a KWH is, but bear with me. Most of your electric company do not produce the electricity that they sell you. They buy it on the open market. I figure that they pay about 25% of your bill for the actual electricity. The other cost is for all the power lines and support cost that they have to pass along to you and me. That means that, with my numbers, they pay about $0.0375/KWH. Now for the big point. Green power has a cost about 10 times that from coal and natural gas. That means it will cost your power company $0.375/KWH and they have to pass that extra cost along to you and me. Here is where the mandate comes in. Many states have a mandate that your power company has to provide at least 10% green energy. Some states have a lot more. For most of you who are blind about the cost of these mandates, you think that green energy is a good idea and your politicians take advantage of that stupidity.
Based on the numbers above, here is the impact on your electric bill if your state had a 10% mandate. Rather than a normal electric bill for $200, your new bill would be $245. As the mandate percentage gets larger, so does your bill.
Here is a totally different slant on the problem. Rather than our government passing a mandate, what if they just passed a simple tax? Now, the extra cost of that mandate would be out in the open so we could all see how much it cost. In the case of Obamacare, the courts held that the mandate in Obamacare was actually a "tax" and thus legal. If it was a "tax" for Obamacare, then why not for the mandates for green energy? If that were the case, the power company could add the tax to our bill so that we could see it and then we could "deduct" it from our income tax like any other tax. The tax money could then be given to the power company so that they could pay the "extra" cost of "green energy". That would put this whole business of mandates out in the open where we could all see it and judge if it was "worth it" or not. How else can we judge if it is "worth it" or not if we don't even know how much the mandate costs?
Are you starting to see how we are screwed by all these mandates? Are you starting to see how we all need to start demanding that these mandates be put out in the open so we can all see how much they cost? It is my opinion that if we all knew what they cost, then we would not be so silent about them. When was the last time you complained about a mandate? Never! That is the problem.
PS--I did not include the calculations for the new electric bill of $245, but I think that most of you are smart enough to do it with the figures that I have provided.
PS--How about some more facts about green energy? First off, green energy is not available 24/7 so it still has to be backed up with exactly the same capital investment in coal and natural gas energy. The cost of energy from coal and natural gas will go "up" because of the same "fixed cost" associated with have to be divided by lower plant utilization. Interesting? The value of green energy that is not available 24/7 is only "worth" about 50% of conventional energy. How would you like it if you had to depend on green energy 100% of the time? Not so good! The cost of green energy is at least 5 or 10 times as expensive as conventional energy. The capital investment in green energy only operates at about 20% to 25% of its full capacity. No business could be profitable with this low of capital utilization. Could you afford a home that you only lived in 20% of the time?
