Carolina Journal’s Rick Henderson reports here on a bill that narrowly cleared a House committee vote today to freeze the costly SB 3 renewable energy portfolio mandate at its current 3 percent, rather than allowing the mandate to continue to escalate up to 12.5 percent. At issue is that the mandate forces utilities to purchase higher-cost types of energy. That results in higher utility bills for you and me and higher costs for any business using energy to produce its product.

This mandate has been misguided public policy since the day it was passed in 2007. “Green” forms of energy aren’t able to survive, let alone thrive, in the marketplace. Ratepayers are simply propping them up. Still, supporters claim the mandate is a job creator.  It is hard enough for many families to make ends meet in a state where unemployment continues to sit well above 9 percent. Rep. Mike Hager is the key advocate for rolling back this costly law.

Displaying a bottle of Texas Pete hot sauce, manufactured in Winston-Salem by TW Garner Food Co., Hager said the mandate would force TW Garner to pay higher energy costs, which would be passed along at each stage of the distribution process, forcing consumers to pay more for the product on the supermarket shelves. 

“There are a lot of folks in my district who are struggling,” Hager said. “This is an entitlement program [to renewable energy companies] that the folks in my district can’t afford.”

Hager had said earlier that the measure would keep the current mandate in place to allow existing energy contracts to be honored.

The bill also would allow utilities to meet their renewable requirement by purchasing hydroelectric power from facilities built before 2007; S.B. 3 did not allow those purchases to be counted.

During public comment, representatives from renewable energy companies and trade associations, farmers, and consultants for renewable producers spoke against the measure.

It is no surprise that those who benefit from subsidies were on hand to plead the case for keeping them in place.