Roy Cordato, vice president for research for the John Locke Foundation, provides this update about legislative efforts to defend North Carolinians against the mandate that currently forces utility companies to buy higher-cost forms of energy even though lower-cost forms are readily available. The mandate has direct impact on our electric bills.

After being defeated in the House Commerce Committee, a much stronger Senate version of the House proposal to pull back on North Carolina’s mandate to use expensive renewable sources of energy to generate electricity, SB 365, passed the Senate Finance Committee today. The Senate version of H298 freezes the current mandate at 3 percent and then eliminates it completely in 2023.  It is currently scheduled to rise to 12.5 percent over the next eight years, including energy efficiency measures.

It is likely that this Senate version will make it to the Senate floor. For more information on the progress of SB 365, and therefore the prospects for lower electricity rates, follow this issue on CarolinaJournal.comover the coming days.

 

Carolina Journal’s Day Way reports on the House Commerce Committee vote here, and reaction from Rep. Mike Hager, who is working to protect ratepayers.

“Some not-so-conservatives decided to vote for a bill that extends mandates and subsidies forever,” Hager said. “We presented a bill that’s a conservative bill,” but some Republicans “subsidized a sector of business that would go on forever.”

Asked if he felt betrayed by members of his own caucus after believing he had lined up the necessary votes for committee approval, Hager appeared charitable.

“Obviously I must have miscounted. People voted the way they felt led for their district, and that’s something I’ll always honor,” he said. 

Republicans other than Moore who opposed Hager’s bill were Jerry Dockham, R-Davidson, who is vice chairman of the Public Utilities Committee; Ruth Samuelson, R-Mecklenburg; Nelson Dollar R-Wake; Charles Jeter, R-Mecklenburg; and Linda Johnson, R-Cabarrus. No Democrats voted for the measure.