Opinion and Analysis
Originally published January 1, 2024
I received the letter below from Puget Sound Energy, talking about increased rates. If you are a natural gas customer you probably did, too:
If you take a close look at your letter, you’ll see that it states:
‘You will soon see changes to your monthly bill associated with the state’s new law, the “Climate Commitment Act” (CCA).’
and later:
“Starting October 1, PSE’s natural gas customers will see higher rates reflected on their monthly bills. The higher rates result from costs incurred by PSE to purchase allowances (a compliance instrument) to cover greenhouse gas emissions and comply with the cap-and-investment-program.”
You might recall that in 2021, the Washington State Legislature passed, and Governor Jay Inslee signed, the Climate Commitment Act [CCA] which went into effect on January 1, 2023. Despite the governor’s assurances, I believe that you and I are personally paying for an effort that won’t even actually reduce carbon emissions.
The only “investment” in this “cap-and-investment” program seems to be investing in the state’s general fund for lawmakers to use as they see fit [3]. When PSE buys what amounts to carbon credits from the state government, it passes the cost on to its customers in what I think of as a hidden tax. As far as I can tell, money collected from this hidden tax isn’t targeted to any climate change efforts, the tax is the climate change effort.
The idea seems to be to pay more and more, so you’ll be inclined to use less and less carbon-based fuels. I suppose you’ll adjust to the use of less natural gas by putting on more sweaters in the winter and eventually relying on an electrical infrastructure that can’t produce enough power without… carbon-based fuels[4].
Many analysts have also predicted increased gasoline prices; see for example articles by the Washington Policy Center, Washington Research Council, and Fox 13 Seattle. So how do we compare to the rest of the country? In December 2023, Washington’s price per gallon was $4.35, neighboring states Oregon and Idaho were at $4.01 and $3.58 respectively, while states like Texas ($2.75) and Arkansas ($2.83) were much lower [2].
Certainly these are rough comparisons. But the cost of living in Washington is roughly 20%-44% higher than in Texas[1], while the gasoline cost is 58.5% higher! We must be doing something wrong…
Or, think about this: According to Forbes, Washington has the third highest gasoline cost in the country, exceeded only by Hawaii and California[2]. If you don’t trust Forbes, some other statistics can be found at the US Energy Information Administration, though in some ways they seem somewhat limited.
However you look at it, our local prices are definitely hurting the little guy as he tries to get to work in the morning.
Making things worse, the CCA will also cause diesel prices to rise, which is a double whammy: Anything that moves by truck – and almost everything moves by truck – will also go up in price.
Can we tolerate higher fuel prices...? If you don't think we can, there are several things you can do:
Please spread the word that the increased costs are coming from our governor's misguided policies.
Urge your friends to vote red overall next November!
[1] Sources: My Life Elsewhere and: ERI Economic Research Institute, Inc.
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