As he campaigned last year, Gov. John Kasich said he would support the repeal of Ohio’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard if he found “it was unrealistic and would drive up prices.” A new study published today by the American Tradition Institute shows the electricity mandate will not only increase costs, but will also subtract jobs and further harm the Buckeye State’s already struggling economy, giving the governor and General Assembly substantial grounds to reconsider the AEPS.

The study found that Ohioans would pay $8.6 billion more for electricity between 2016 and 2025 because of the state’s AEPS, as “renewable” energy is more costly and unreliable than conventional sources such as coal or natural gas. Meanwhile there will be negligible environmental benefit, as it is unproven that use of renewables actually reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The study was prepared by economists at the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston.

“The last thing Ohio needs, with its high unemployment and population stagnancy, is to force more expensive energy on its citizens and businesses,” said Paul Chesser, executive director of the American Tradition Institute. “The Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard passed in 2008 is a blueprint for more economic misery.”

Other insights from the ATI/BHI report:

· Ohio’s electricity prices will increase by 9.3 percent by 2025

· By 2025 the state will lose a net of 9,753 jobs

· In 2025 the RPS mandate will reduce annual wages by an average of $334 per worker

· Due to higher home energy costs, in 2025 annual real disposable income will fall by $1.1 billion

During his campaign last year, Gov. Kasich said he would support an AEPS repeal “if it drives up costs to consumers.

“It will drive up utility bills because we don’t have it ready and have to buy it somewhere else,” he told the Dayton Daily News. “I don’t like that and you can’t mandate invention.”

Worse, renewables such as wind require back-up generation from coal or natural gas because the wind doesn’t always blow, or sometimes blows too hard, causing generators to trip. The use of coal- or gas-fired generators in this manner, with repeated turn-on and turn-off, causes them to emit more pollutants than if they ran continually without wind, according to data analysis by BENTEK Energy, LLC. So Ohio is adding costly, unnecessary electricity generating capacity to its grid without giving residents anything in terms of a cleaner environment.

The report also explains why caps intended to mitigate the increased costs of Ohio electricity due to AEPS are ineffective, with utilities able to boost rates via other compliance and surcharge mechanisms.

“Ohio’s AEPS is a loser economically and it’s a loser environmentally,” Chesser said. “It should be eliminated before it does some lasting damage.”

See a two-page summary of the ATI/RGF Study of the Effects of Ohio’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard on the State Economy. (PDF)

See the Full ATI/RGF Study of the Effects of Ohio’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard on the State Economy. (PDF)

For an interview with American Tradition Institute executive director Paul Chesser, call (202)670-2680 or email paul.chesser@atinstitute.org.