The green premium this time is said to be at least 20 percent of household energy bills-though once again no analysis is offered to justify the number. Reference is made to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and Delaware's renewable portfolio standard, without offering any analysis as to how-and how much-these programs will raise our energy bills.
Actually this version of the green premium is rather modest compared to a previous assertion that renewable energy programs would cost 1,000 annually per residential customer "if all the legislated policies were in effect now." As I calculated last month, this would come to a whopping 63 percent of the average residential bill in 2009. Whether the number is 20 percent or 63 percent, the CRI doesn't show us the analysis to back up the scary numbers.
Since the CRI seems disinclined to do the math, I thought I would take a stab at it, starting with Delaware's biggest renewable energy effort: the Bluewater Wind offshore wind project. The Public Service Commission's consultant in 2008 projected the levelized cost of the Bluewater Wind contract to be 70 cents per MWh (0.07 cents/kWh) over the 25 year life of the deal. Based on average electricity use in 2009, this would come to 65 cents per month or 7.82 per year. (This figure could go up or down a few dollars depending on the trajectory of fossil fuel prices over the next three decades.) For those keeping score at home, that comes to 0.49 percent-which leaves the CRI to detail how renewable energy policies will raise our bills the other 19.51 percent.
