Will “cap & Trade” Make It Too Expensive To Heat Your Home?
Global Warming is killing the planet. So our brain trust is congress is looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions. So they are proposing Cap and Trade.
A key element in Cap & Trade proposals to limit greenhouse gases is how to allocate carbon-dioxide emissions allowances to companies.
Proposals include a government-run auction, which would generate revenue for the U.S. Treasury.
But a detailed industry-backed blueprint unveiled last week calls for a significant number of emissions allowances to be given to companies as free allotments, which would curb the cost of compliance and mitigate price increases for consumers.
While both proposals would likely mean higher electric costs for utilities, relying solely on a government auction would mean dramatically higher rates, according to Duke Energy, which has about 1.3 million electric customers in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
Duke played a key role in developing the blueprint for the allotment program presented to Congress by the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of 32 corporations, including General Electric, DuPont and General Motors.
More than 95 percent of the electricity Duke sells in the local region is from carbon-dioxide producing coal-fired generating plants.
An analysis Duke Energy did last summer showed that an initial $30-a-ton carbon emission price would cost the utility an additional $629 million a year in 2012 when fully effective, and mean a 35 percent rate increase for industrial, commercial and residential customers.
A $44-a-ton price would cost $864 million and mean a 48 percent rate increase, said John Stowell, vice president of environmental policy for Duke Energy Ohio.
So can you afford a 35 to 48% increase in your home heating bill? How are the poor going to pay for this?
2008 was the coolest year in over a decade. 2009 right now is well below the normals. So are we warming or cooling?
