Americans don’t have to live in the dark

By David Avella and Tim Moore for The Washington Examiner

Can you imagine an America where we are given specific times to heat water, charge our mobile devices, or cool our homes? As recently as February, 14 states required energy companies to start controlled rolling cutoffs of electric service because the demand for power was overwhelming the available generation. In simple terms, rolling blackouts put people in the dark without power.

This is why it was no surprise when Morning Consult reported that 73% of U.S. adults believe reliable and affordable electricity should be a top priority of U.S. clean energy policy. At a time when people see choice and competition as central to success, congressional Democrats, extreme climate activists, and regulators want energy policies that have government deciding the careers we can have, the food we can eat, and the trips we can take.

The good news is that our country is rapidly getting used to cleaner power. We rely more on renewable energy every day. The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2020 annual report on power plant emission trends shows that carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector peaked in 2007 at 2.57 billion tons and declined over the next 13 years by almost 1 billion tons — a 39% reduction.

Better news is that the electricity produced by fossil and nuclear fuels is helping the clean energy transition. Because battery storage technologies capable of providing around-the-clock power do not yet exist, fossil fuel and nuclear generation facilities currently provide the “baseload,” or “always on” electricity people rely on during periods when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. If we force them from the marketplace too quickly, the lights may not work when you want, or need, them to most.

Energy solutions are available. Based on their words and actions, congressional Democrats are not interested, which leaves it to the Republican leaders to develop the environment and marketplace solution for reliable, affordable, cleaner energy solutions.

I, Tim Moore, am determined to have North Carolina showing the path for others to follow. A diverse group of energy policy stakeholders was brought together to confront the challenges facing consumers. The legislation developed will secure decades of reliable, affordable, and, yes, cleaner power for North Carolinians.

The Modernize Energy Generation legislation supports a mix of generation technologies that includes new combined-cycle natural gas power plants. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, these facilities produce about 60% less carbon than coal plants. The legislation also commits $50 million to facilitate early site permitting for a new, advanced modular nuclear facility — a source of energy that generates zero emissions.

The legislation also provides North Carolina’s public utility commission with important new regulatory options that would require utilities to meet certain efficiency measures and adopt multi-year infrastructure planning.

Utility companies will have to make sacrifices as well. The new energy plan will force the utilities to amortize the stranded cost of decommissioned plants, cap their earnings, and require any earnings above the cap to be returned to customers.

By 2035, the Utilities Commission Public Staff estimates this legislation will reduce carbon dioxide emissions in North Carolina by nearly 63% compared to the state’s 2005 carbon dioxide emissions peak. Importantly, when compared to the existing generation system, these variations are inexpensive relative to the Democratic-led approaches taken in California and New York. In 2035, residential customers in North Carolina would pay only $2 to $3 more per month, while businesses’ energy costs would increase by less than 2%.

The alternative in North Carolina is Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's “California-style” plan, which would produce electricity rates that are the highest in the nation. In short, his plan would force residents to pay more for their energy usage to achieve the same carbon dioxide output as the Republicans’ Modernize Energy Generation legislation.

Republicans have heard the call for reliable, affordable, and cleaner energy. Now is the time to think clearly and act rationally about our country’s energy system. North Carolina is showing there is a way to let the market respond for the benefit of consumers.

David Avella is chairman of GOPAC and a veteran Republican strategist. Tim Moore is speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives.