Tag: RGGI
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Pennsylvania Joining RGGI is All Cost, No Benefit: PJM
By Steve Haner A Republican leader in the Pennsylvania legislature asked the regional electricity market PJM Interconnect what would happen if that state joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. PJM reported it would raise consumer costs but have next to no impact on carbon dioxide emissions. The report, dated April 25 but just shared with Bacon’s…
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Two Energy Updates: RGGI and an Offshore Wind Reversal
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative held its latest auction for carbon emission allowances last week and produced a price of $19.76 per ton. Because Virginia is no longer a participant, that probably saved electric utility customers another $100 million. The March 2025 price, in reality a tax on the use of hydrocarbon fuels, was lower…
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RGGI Carbon Tax Decreases in Latest Regional Auction
The final 2024 auction for Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon allowances, held December 4, broke the recent pattern and produced a noticeably lower clearing price. The price of $20.05 per ton of emitted carbon dioxide is still higher than was ever charged to Virginia electricity producers during Virginia’s three years in the program. The December 2024…
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RGGI is Back. Prepare to Pay.
By Steve Haner Grapevines sequester carbon dioxide, so Virginia’s climate alarmism activists are pulling corks without guilt today, after learning that a Virginia circuit court judge will order Virginia to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). During the three years Virginia was part of the multi-state cap and tax compact, Virginia collected $827 million…
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Advocates for the Energy Poor Want to Make Them Poorer
By Steve Haner A national industry group that advocates for home energy efficiency contractors has produced another report on how energy costs squeeze the poor the hardest, with Richmond one of its examples. The data was then used as an excuse to call for (you guessed it) the return of an energy carbon tax which…
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RGGI Tax Spikes Again. Democrats Will Bring it Back, Virginia.
By Steve Haner The dollar cost for permission to burn hydrocarbon fuels in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative region spiked another 22 percent in just three months. This is one more sign electric power producers in those states know they will need to keep using hydrocarbons despite the political policy push to eliminate them. The…
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Dominion Energy Prices Spike 11% By Sept 1, Mostly Due to VCEA
By Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia electricity bills rose August 1 and will rise again September 1, with many of the increases due to various aspects of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, especially ongoing construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. The net change is just over $14 more on that prototypical residential bill…
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Challenging the Fact-Free Narrative on RGGI
By Steve Haner The numerous falsehoods in a recent Richmond Times-Dispatch story about the carbon tax so loved by Virginia Democrats start right with the headline. It states that Virginia’s decision to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative “is costing millions.” The figure of $150 million per year is then mentioned, apparently simply quoting…
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Floyd Judge Ponders Order to Return RGGI Tax
By Steve Haner A circuit court judge in Floyd County may soon order Virginia to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and to reimpose the related carbon tax on Virginia’s electricity consumers. Judge Kenneth “Mike” Fleenor Jr. ruled earlier this month that a suit seeking reinstatement of RGGI could continue and held a hearing on…
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Virginia’s Final (Maybe) RGGI Tax Grab: $97M
by Steve Haner Virginia has participated in its final (for a while anyway) Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auction and the proceeds on the carbon tax set a new record, with Virginia collecting more than $97 million in one swoop. The total carbon tax take for the state is just under $828 million in three years.…
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Court Blocks Pennsylvania from Joining RGGI
by Steve Haner A state court in Pennsylvania has ruled that the regulatory decision to enroll that state in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) exceeded the authority of state regulators. It ruled RGGI is a tax that could only be lawfully imposed by the legislature. It was the Republican majority in one of the…
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Miyares Seeks Dismissal of Suit to Save RGGI
By Steve Haner Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) is defending the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board’s decision to exit a multi-state carbon cap and tax compact as within the regulatory agency’s authority. He has also claimed to the circuit court hearing an appeal of that decision that the plaintiffs were not affected by the action…
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Dominion “Bill Relief” Disappears September 1
By Steve Haner Homeowners willing to cut back power usage when Dominion Energy Virginia asks them could earn rebates of up to $28 a year. So reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch, citing yet another final order from the State Corporation Commission. The Richmond paper is always bringing us such great news about the folks at the…
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RGGI Reg Repealed, But RGGI Tax Returns to Bills
by Steve Haner Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board voted Wednesday to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, keeping Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s promise to eliminate the related carbon tax that has been imposed on electricity ratepayers under RGGI since January 2021. The bad news is the tax itself won’t disappear until at the…
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Under RGGI Virginia Releases More CO2, Not Less
by Steve Haner Since Virginia joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) compact at the start of 2021, according to data reported by the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to provide electricity to customers in the state has grown. Despite two years of RGGI caps and taxes, total CO2 emissions…