The answer to that question is yes, based on the vote to retain the costly subsidies for renewable energy sources that are not able to survive in the marketplace. Kudos to Sen. Mike Hager (R-Rutherford) for having the courage to stand up to pressure and look out for average families. The same can’t be said for other legislators, both Democrats and Republicans.
Hager, a former engineer for Duke Energy, said the bill would end a state policy of subsidies for industries that will never be able to compete with natural gas and nuclear power. He said the state is achieving little but increasing utility bills to subsidize developers of alternative energy.
“Do you want your kids, your grandkids, your great-grandkids paying a subsidy that lasts forever?” Hager asked members of his committee. “If you feed the bears, they don’t know how to look for food anywhere else.”
State law requires that at least 12.5 percent of retail power sales of electric utilities come from renewables and energy efficiency programs by 2021. Hager suggested shrinking the mandate to 3 percent, then said he could live with a 6 percent cap.
