“We asked the power company to take a hit, to take a cut, but it’s not cheap to run this grid and keep it reliable, especially when we’re transitioning to clean energy.” Echols said. “As we transition from dirty coal to cleaner things like nuclear and solar and batteries, it’s just more expensive.”
It is not honest to mention nuclear power in the same clause as solar and batteries. They are all important parts of the energy transition, but nuclear is the only one raising energy costs in Georgia.
The other culprit for high rates is a leftover from the natural gas export frenzy to Europe.
Tim Echols with the Public Service Commission says we’re also paying for the cost of sending natural gas to Europe, as many Georgia plants run on natural gas.
Echols says the average customer’s bill has gone up $20 per month due to the gas spike caused by European countries boycotting Russian gas.
“The US exported natural gas to assist (European countries),” Echols said. "Our prices rose substantially as a result, impacting our ratepayers. Fortunately, increase will roll off through bill in about two years lowering bills in 2026.”
This is why I’m very cautious about political environmentalism adopting nuclear power policies. Cheaper elements like wind, solar, and storage will be used to dilute public anger at the extremely expensive nuclear element.
Nuclear power should be be advocated for separately, and honestly, as a worthwhile premium expense
The only issue I really have with wind and solar is availability.
As for batteries, I have a ton of problems with them from an environmental standpoint. Until we have solid state batteries we have to accept that it’s dirty. I don’t like people act like construction and disposal doesn’t affect the environment because it most certainly does.
I like nuclear not because of its price but because it’s a drop replacement for fossil fuel power generation and it has excellent availability and reliability even when counting maintenance shutdowns in the equation. It’s also stupendously clean. Cleaner than solar when construction is included.
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Nuclear is also the least deadly source of electricity ever harnessed by man.
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Not sure if this fits into the topic, but the price of gas at the gas station up on the corner is $3-$4 and the price of candy is at least $2 a pop.
