Abandoning coal in NV will cost thousands of jobs, cause rate increases

(Chantal Lovell of NPRI) – Las Vegas — Thousands of working Nevadans will be left jobless and energy customers will see their bills skyrocket as Nevada implements a two-year-old law requiring NV Energy to shut down its coal-fired power plants by 2020 and shift to renewable sources.

That’s according to a new analysis commissioned by the Nevada Policy Research Institute and conducted by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University. The analysis, authored by Paul Bachman and Michael Head, examines the economic effects of Senate Bill 123 on Nevada’s economy.

His findings show that the bill, passed by the 2013 Legislature, will cause 2,630 people to lose their jobs by 2020 as companies adjust their spending to account for higher energy bills. Energy bills for customers will rise, while disposable income and investment in the state fall.

In response to the study, NPRI’s Deputy Communications Director Chantal Lovell issued this statement:

Supporters of mandates like SB123 claim that abandoning the use of coal and moving to renewable sources will stimulate the economy through the creation of “green” jobs. But, as studies by Beacon Hill and others make clear, jobs are not being created on net, but lost.

These job losses and rate hikes are coming because the State of Nevada has told its energy utility that it may no longer use energy sources that have served consumers for decades and must instead replace them with more socially acceptable technologies.

Rather than expanding regulations that hurt working people and the economy, Nevada and other states should look to Texas, which has aggressively sought to deregulate electricity, resulting in the nation’s least expensive electricity.

 

NPRI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that produces and shares ideas and information that empowers people.  For more information, please visit www.NPRI.org.