Skip to content
  • About the Project
  • Meet the Team
  • Partners
Support Us
  • Support Us
  • Inside Energy
  • Inside Energy
  • Home
  • Podcast
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Data
  • Educators
  • IE Questions
  • IE Investigations
    • Energy According To Trump
    • Protesting The Pipeline: Standing Rock And The Dakota Access Pipeline
    • Your Natural Gas Boom Is Leaking
    • Feasting On Fuel
    • Reclamation Blues: The Lingering Legacy Of Fossil Fuels
    • Blackout: Reinventing The Grid
    • Denmark’s Road To Renewables
    • The Future Of Coal
    • The Fallout From Falling Oil Prices
    • The Oilfield Spill Problem
    • Energy And The New Congress
    • Boom 2.0
    • Dark Side Of The Boom
    • The Solar Challenge
    • The Pipeline Network
    • Coal Watch
  • Newsletter
  • Support Us
  • Get To Know Us
    • About the Project
    • Meet the Team
    • Partners

Inside Energy - Bringing energy reporting down to Earth

Inside Energy (https://insideenergy.org/2015/05/29/ie-questions-will-my-electricity-bill-go-up-under-the-clean-power-plan/)

  • Home
  • Podcast
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Data
  • Educators
  • IE Questions
  • IE Investigations
    • Energy According To Trump
    • Protesting The Pipeline: Standing Rock And The Dakota Access Pipeline
    • Your Natural Gas Boom Is Leaking
    • Feasting On Fuel
    • Reclamation Blues: The Lingering Legacy Of Fossil Fuels
    • Blackout: Reinventing The Grid
    • Denmark’s Road To Renewables
    • The Future Of Coal
    • The Fallout From Falling Oil Prices
    • The Oilfield Spill Problem
    • Energy And The New Congress
    • Boom 2.0
    • Dark Side Of The Boom
    • The Solar Challenge
    • The Pipeline Network
    • Coal Watch
  • Newsletter
clean power plan

IE Questions: Will My Electricity Bill Go Up Under The Clean Power Plan?

By Emily Guerin | May 29, 2015
More
  • More on clean power plan
  • Subscribe to clean power plan

You’ve heard the ominous predictions: electricity rates will soar, skyrocket, or just plain increase under the Clean Power Plan, President Obama’s 2014 proposal to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

But is it true?

Mostly yes, but how much they rise depends on where you live, according to a new analysis of the plan by the Energy Information Administration.

In the short-term the answer is yes. EIA predicts that electricity rates will rise most in the early 2020s, about two to five percent more under the Clean Power Plan than what they would’ve been otherwise. This is mostly due to utilities building new natural gas-fired power plants and the jump in gas prices that’s expected to happen once demand for it increases.

By 2030, it’s mixed. In places like the Southeast, the Southwest and the Southern Plains, electricity prices will stay higher than they would’ve been without the plan. In other places, like New England and the Northeast, they’ll be lower. In general, EIA expects price increases to stabilize as lower-cost renewable power comes online and replaces natural gas.

By 2040, the gap between electricity rates under the Clean Power Plan and what rates would’ve been without the plan begins to narrow even further as energy efficiency investments brought about by the plan help reduce demand. Some areas, like the Central Plains, Northwest and Great Lakes region, may even see lower bills than they would’ve had the Plan never been passed.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to finalize the Clean Power Plan by mid-summer. Fourteen states have sued the agency over the proposal.

What’s Next: The EIA’s analysis has a ton of information on how the Clean Power Plan will change energy in America. Want to know which coal-producing regions will be most affected? Which parts of the country will likely reduce their electricity consumption the most? Check it out!

 

More
  • More on clean power plan
  • Subscribe to clean power plan

Related Series

IE Questions

Energy is a broad and confusing topic. In this series, Inside Energy reporters de-mystify the wonkiness that dominates so much of the energy conversation, through answering your questions, as well as questions we encounter in the field. What's your energy head scratcher? Submit it at ask.insideenergy.org, e-mail it to us at Ask@insideenergy.org, or tweet it to @InsideEnergyNow with hashtag #MyEnergyQuestion.

Tags
  • Inside Energy News
  • clean power plan
  • electricity
  • Energy Information Administration (EIA)
  • Environmental Protection Agency

About Emily Guerin

Emily Guerin was Inside Energy's first reporter in North Dakota, based at Prairie Public Broadcasting in Bismarck. Currently Emily is the environmental reporter for KPCC in Los Angeles.

  • More by Emily

Read Next

  • IE Questions: What Is Inertia? And What’s Its Role In Grid Reliability?

    So, what exactly is inertia? And what role does it play in electricity generation? We answer these questions, with help from a giraffe, a llama, a hamster and an elephant.

Previous Post
Natural Gas: Guardrails For A Potential Climate Bridge
Next Post
Coal's Decline Means Cultural Changes In Rural Colorado
Inside Energy is a collaborative journalism initiative of partners across the US and supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
  • Inside Energy
  • About The Project
  • Meet The Team
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Terms Of Use

Search This Site

Browse Archives

© Copyright 2023, Inside Energy

Inside Energy is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News

Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Back to top ↑