PowerSouth CEO warns of "cap & trade disaster"

PowerSouth president & CEO Gary Smith wrote a guest column that was published in the Andalusia Star News over the weekend that is worth reading.

PowerSouth is the major electricity generation and transmission company for South Alabama and much of the Florida Panhandle. The column mentions some specific statistics in terms of the future cost increases that would be felt by consumers if the current version of the climate change bill is passed. Cullman Electric Cooperative is a distributor of TVA-generated electricity, not PowerSouth, but our members can anticipate a similar increase.

A link to the full column is above, but here are some excerpts from Smith's column:

— "Current proposals for a government auction of carbon allowances under a cap-and-trade program basically represent an energy tax on consumers designed to transfer wealth and provide funding for government spending. Making energy substantially more expensive would be a regressive tax on the poorest Americans, slowing economic growth and our economy as a whole."

— "By 2012, PowerSouth would need to purchase 2.7 million carbon dioxide credits, and estimates are that the credits will be $20 each, which translates into an additional $54 million burden for our members. Even the bill’s supporters concede that it will cause electricity costs to skyrocket, yet the bill’s subsidies don’t make up for the price increase consumers would face. For consumers served by PowerSouth’s member cooperatives, the passage of the Waxman-Markey Bill in its current state could mean a 6.78 percent increase in monthly power bills beginning in 2012."