Federal Data Shows, Again, That The Electrify Everything Push Means Higher Energy Costs

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Some of America’s richest NGOs are pushing policies that ban the direct use of natural gas in homes and businesses. While they claim the ban on gas is needed to address climate change, these bans will result in dramatic increases in energy costs and impose a regressive tax on the poor and the middle class. More proof of that came last month when the Energy Information Administration released its Winter Fuels Outlook for 2023-24.

The report shows that an average U.S. homeowner who uses electricity to heat their home will pay about $462 more this winter than ones who use natural gas. That means heating with electricity costs about 77% more than heating with natural gas.

In the Northeast, the agency estimates consumers who use electric heat will pay almost twice as much ($1,465 versus $761) as those who heat with gas. Furthermore, the EIA numbers show that in every part of the country ­— Northeast, South, Midwest, and West ­— heating with gas is cheaper than heating with electricity. In the South, heating with gas will cost about $494, while heating with electricity will cost $1,001.

This is the second Department of Energy report published over the past three months that shows the electrify everything push will result in higher energy costs for consumers. The EIA’s Winter Fuels Outlook report was published two months after the DOE released its annual survey of residential energy costs.

As I explained in a previous post:

...last week, the Department of Energy published numbers that show, yet again, that the electrify everything push is, in reality, a regressive tax. The data, published by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, forecasts the “representative average unit costs of five residential energy sources for the year 2023.”

Here's the punchline: On an energy-equivalent basis, electricity will cost 3.3 times more than natural gas this year. The forecast found that electricity will cost about $46 per million Btu while natural gas will cost about $14. The DOE numbers, which should have been published six months ago, gut the claims being made by NGOs, and in the White House press releases, that the electrify everything push will “lower energy costs.” The exact opposite is true.

Read the rest of this piece at Robert Bryce Substack.


Robert Bryce is a Texas-based author, journalist, film producer, and podcaster. His articles have appeared in a myriad of publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, Time, Austin Chronicle, and Sydney Morning Herald.

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