Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Manufacturing/Plants, Solar, Legislation and Policy, Natural Gas
A basic principal of economics is that of supply and demand. If demand for a commodity rises and the supply does not, the price increases. With demand for electricity in the US expected to increase by fifty percent over the next three decades and expansion of generating capacity in a holding pattern in many cases, prices for electricity are expected to rise. With the cost of many power plants already at well over $1 billion and rising thanks to increased construction costs, power utilities are reluctant to commit the funds unless they know they can get a return. Unfortunately inaction by the government on either pollution standards or conservation efforts is leaving power companies with a lot of uncertainty about what will be required in the future. With that much money at stake, they are unwilling to take the risk. There are too many unanswered questions about CO2 emissions standards, natural gas availability and utility regulations. Since the move to deregulate utilities over the past decade has almost never actually resulted in reduced prices for consumers, new rules are being considered that also make companies reluctant to invest. The bottom line is that with renewable electricity still a tiny portion of overall capacity, we could be looking at serious issues down the road and much higher costs to charge batteries in EVs.
[Source: CNN Money]
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