In Europe, the crisis in the cost of energy, especially electricity, is unfolding rapidly.
Germany, which has been deep into the Energiewende (energy transition) since 2010, leads the way. Almost all coal and nuclear power plants have been closed in favor of large-scale construction plans for wind and solar power facilities. After that decade, over the past few years, Germans have been saddled with a retail price of consumer electricity of more than 30 euro cents per kWh – almost three times the average US consumer price. Above November 25, a German news source called The Local (behind the paywall) quoted an energy market expert named Mirko Scholsarczyk as suggesting that “40 cents per kilowatt hour will likely be the new normal in 2023 and 2024, and that price could even rise to 50 cents per kilowatt hour after that.” While, my own post from December 24 Citing data from a Belgian consultancy called Brueghel, Germany is in the process of spending around 260 billion euros, about 7% of GDP, a staggering amount, on subsidies to consumers in order to keep for their electricity bill not to exceed even this ridiculously high level.
The UK, which is second behind Germany in the race to what it calls “Net Zero”, has its own associated energy cost crisis. The basic policy prescription is the same as in Germany – large-scale construction of solar and wind power facilities and containment of fossil fuels. Although consumer bills are limited by regulation, they went in October to roughly three times what it was a year earlier; and they are set to rise again in April, to around five times their previous levels, although that may now be temporarily hampered by the Kingdom’s own massive round of taxpayer subsidies. England in the range of one hundred billion pounds or more.
Can we in America learn from this madness before it’s too late? The answer is, if it depends on our EPA, no.
Readers may be interested in some back-and-forth on this topic that recently occurred during the case briefing. Concerned Appliances Consumer Council v. EPA, pending in the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. CHECC is asking EPA to review the so-called 2009 Hazard Detection, the bureaucratic ordinance by which those geniuses claimed to have determined that CO2 and certain other “greenhouse gases” constitute a “concern.” dangerous” to human health and safety. Hazard Detection is the legal cornerstone that underpins all U.S. government efforts to stop fossil fuel infrastructure, whether power plants, pipelines, rigs, or whatever. is different. You may recall that I was one of CHECC’s attorneys on this matter.
One of the things that you need to prove to make one of these cases is that the party you represent has what they call “standing”. It means that the party making the claim has or will suffer some specific damages from the legal action in question. That’s why our client is an assembly of electricity consumers. As we stated in our Complaint and in our Summary, “Each member of CHECC is a U.S. citizen and a member of a household that pays the electric bill.”
To demonstrate the impact on consumer electricity bills of a policy that combines the expansion of wind and solar energy with the restriction of fossil fuels, we quote and describe the German experience. Excerpt, from page 31 of the Summary:
In Europe, Germany started its transition to renewable energy in 2010, and by 2015, 30% of its electricity comes from wind and solar. . . . The average German household electricity price in 2021 is 32.16 cents per kWh, about triple US average. . . .
So what’s the answer to that, EPA? EPA filed its Summary of Responses on December 20. From pages 20-21 of that Summary:
The petitioners’ extensive discussion of the cost of electricity in Germany – involving another country, market, currency and regulatory regime – does not support their efforts [to demonstrate standing]. . . . No attempt has been made to prove that Plaintiffs or their members suffered “actual damage” as a result of electricity prices in Germany or any US regulation (not to mention the 2009 Discovery or Disclaimer). ) affect those prices.
That’s it. Hey, it’s a “different country”! Electricity prices in Germany don’t hurt you. As a result, the EPA said, no one has a “position” to challenge our Threat Detection.
I guess there is no way to know if the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage that is happening in Germany has anything to do with the forced energy transition. Either way, trying to figure that out is none of the EPA’s business. They are too busy to save the planet.
Could the DC Circuit – arguably one of our top courts – fall into something of this blind ignorance? We shall see.
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