States which offered substantial taxpayer support for green energy pay a lot more for electricity, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis.
The most notable examples of this trend were California and West Virginia. California had some of the nation’s highest power prices, paying 14.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, and had a whopping 183 policies offering support to green energy. In contrast, West Virginia had some of the nation’s cheapest power at 7.91 cents per kilowatt-hour and a mere 11 policies.
Statistical analysis run by TheDCNF found a positive and statistically significant correlation existed between high electricity bills and states with numerous policies supporting green energy. States which offered rebates, buy-back programs, tax exemptions and direct cash subsidies to green energy were 64 percent more likely to have higher than average electric bills. For every additional pro-green energy policy in a state, the average price of electricity rose by about .01 cents per kilowatt-hour.
TheDCNF analyzed data from the Energy Information Administration and Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency and aggregated average annual power prices from the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2013, the last full year of data, then displayed the data on the maps below.
Source: Energy Information Administration Data Mapped By TheDCNF
TheDCNF found the priciest power in America’s lower 48 was in New England, especially in Connecticut and New York which paid 15.7 and 15.4 cents per kilowatt-hour respectively.
Washington state and Wyoming had America’s cheapest electricity, paying 7.1 and 7.55 cents per kilowatt-hour respectively. States with access to easily developed hydropower resources, like Washington, tended to have fairly inexpensive power even if they had numerous pro-green energy policies.
