In 2007, North Carolina legislators enacted a renewable energy portfolio standard. Simply put, these standards require that a certain percentage of energy provided by NC utilities come from so-called renewable sources. Solar, wind, hydropower and even biomass are considered “renewable” sources of energy under this law.
This law has forced major energy providers such as Duke Energy to purchase more expensive and inefficient energy sources to pass along to consumers. Also being passed along to consumers is a higher energy bill.
And higher energy bills not only force residential ratepayers – especially low-income households – to dig deeper to pay their bills, but also impose higher costs on businesses and make North Carolina less competitive for jobs. Business surveys find energy costs to consistently rank highly among a company’s decision of where to locate or expand.
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