FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 7, 2011
Contacts:
Paul Chesser, [email protected]
Frank Conte, [email protected]

As the Colorado General Assembly considers a rollback of the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to the level that voters approved in 2004, a study by the American Tradition Institute says that the state’s alternative energy mandates will be costly to citizens.

See the ATI two-page summary of the Effects of Colorado’s Renewable Portfolio Standard on the State Economy. (PDF)
See the Full ATI Study of the Effects of Colorado’s Renewable Portfolio Standard on the State Economy. (PDF)

The report, prepared by economists at the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston, found that Coloradans will likely pay $1.37 billion more for power in 2020 because of the state’s RPS, and it could cost them as much as $2.1 billion more. Meanwhile there will be negligible environmental benefit, as the use of renewables such as wind and biomass do not shrink greenhouse gas emissions. Also, wind and solar require significant fossil fuel-based backup power sources to accommodate variability in the availability of wind and sun for power conversion. For example, a recent study by Colorado-based Bentek Energy LLC found that wind power actually increases pollution and greenhouse gas emissions due to these required backup systems.

"What a devastating impact these aggressive renewable policies will have on Colorado’s economy" said Paul Chesser, executive director of the American Tradition Institute. "What’s worse is that they will have zero affect on global greenhouse gas emissions, and in the case of wind and biomass, they will increase those emissions."

Colorado State Sen. Shawn Mitchell has introduced SB 11-071, which seeks to reduce the state’s RPS from the current 30 percent by 2020 to the voter-approved 10 percent by 2015 mandate passed in 2004.

The Beacon Hill Institute analysis produced a low, high and average estimate of economic impacts from Colorado’s current RPS, based upon Energy Information Administration numbers. Other findings from the ATI report:

· Over the period of 2011 to 2020, the Act will cost Coloradans an additional $11.78 billion over conventional power, within a range of $6.4 billion and $18.5 billion.
· Colorado’s electricity prices will increase by an average of 3.75 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), or by 40 percent, in 2020, within a range of $1.23 cents per kWh, or by 13 percent and 5.97 cents per kWh, or by 64 percent.
· By 2020 Colorado will lose an average of 18,380 jobs, within a range of between 6,043 jobs under our low cost scenario and 29,242 jobs under our high cost scenario.
· In 2020 the RPS mandate will reduce annual wages by an average of $1,269 per worker, within a range of between $417 per worker and $2,019 per worker.
· Due to higher home energy costs, in 2020, annual real disposable income will fall by $1.87 billion, within a range of $616 million and $2.98 billion.

"Colorado has the dubious distinction of having the second-most aggressive RPS in the nation," Chesser said. "The price its citizens will pay will be in massive job losses, diminished wages and disposable income, and businesses leaving the state in droves because of energy costs.

"Colorado lawmakers should consider these facts as they weigh the state’s economic and energy future."

See the Full ATI Study of the Effects of Colorado’s Renewable Portfolio Standard on the State Economy. (PDF)

See also ATI’s Study of the Effects of Federal Renewable Portfolio Standard Legislation on the U.S. Economy. (PDF)

For an interview with American Tradition Institute executive director Paul Chesser, call (202)670-2680 or email [email protected].