FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Contacts:
Todd Wynn, Cascade Policy Institute, [email protected]
Paul Chesser, [email protected]

Following American Tradition Institute studies of Renewable Portfolio Standards in Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico - plus other analyses of energy mandates in North Carolina and Massachusetts - a new Cascade Policy Institute report on the harmful economic impacts of Oregon’s RPS provides another example of how the forced usage of alternative energy is an economy killer.

The report, The Economic Impact of Oregon’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, prepared by economists at the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston, found that mandates forcing renewable energy on ratepayers will increase electricity rates significantly. Between 2015 and 2025, the average Oregon household will pay an additional $1,706 in higher electricity costs. The average commercial business will spend an extra $9,641, and the average industrial business an extra $80,115.

"No matter which state is examined, the story of renewables mandates is the same," said American Tradition Institute executive director Paul Chesser. "Forcing higher costs into everyone’s electric bill not only squeezes household and business budgets, but it spreads like a cancer throughout the economy."

Other findings from the Cascade Policy Institute report include:

• Over the period of 2015 to 2025, the mandate will cost Oregonians on average an additional $6.811 billion over conventional power within a range of $4.009 billion and $9.310 billion
• Oregon’s electricity prices will likely increase by an average of 1.73 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), or by 23.9 percent, in 2025
• By 2025 the Oregon economy will lose an average of 17,530 jobs
• In 2025 the mandates will cost families an average of $247 per year, commercial businesses an average of $1,394 per year, and industrial businesses an average of $11,585 per year
• By 2025 annual investment will fall by $145 million
• Due to higher home energy costs, in 2025, annual real disposable income will fall by $170 million.

"Legislators need to rethink their push to force renewable energy on Oregonians before electricity costs spiral out of control,” said Wynn. “Just a few years ago, 1 in 20 Oregonians couldn’t pay their electric bills and had their electricity shut off. We will continue to see this rate increase as more renewable energy is forced onto the grid.”

To view ATI’s Studies of the Effects of Montana’s, Colorado’s and New Mexico’s Renewable Portfolio Standards on their respective economies, go here:  http://www.atinstitute.org/research-archives/

See also ATI’s Study of the Effects of Federal Renewable Portfolio Standard Legislation on the U.S. Economy: http://www.atinstitute.org/uploads/File/ATINationalRPSReport.pdf 

For an interview about Cascade Policy Institute’s RPS study in Oregon, contact Todd Wynn at (503)242-0900 or email [email protected].
For an interview about American Tradition Institute’s national and state RPS studies, contact executive director Paul Chesser at (202)670-2680 or email [email protected].