The Injustice of Renewable Energy Mandates

Renewable energy mandates require utilities to get a certain percentage of electricity to come from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. The details of the mandates vary, but they are all founded on the premise that consumers should be forced to reduce their use of fossil fuels. As of 2019, twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia had enacted such mandates.

In 2019, researchers at the University of Chicago found that consumers had paid $125 billion in additional costs because of renewable energy mandates over seven years. The researchers found that electricity prices were 11 percent higher than they would have been without the mandates after seven years, and 17 percent higher after twelve years.

If an individual chooses to get his electricity from renewable sources and pay the higher costs associated with it, he should be free to do so. If he believes that the value he is receiving is worth the additional cost, that is his prerogative. Similarly, if an individual is unwilling to pay more for his electricity, he should also be free to act on that choice. If he doesn’t believe the value received is worth the extra cost, he should not be forced to pay that cost. But renewable energy mandates remove that choice and force nearly everyone to pay higher energy prices, regardless of an individual’s values or desires.

Renewable energy mandates are an act of coercion. They force individuals to act on values that they may or may not have. Force negates freedom of choice. This is true in regard to creating values and in regard to trading values. When an individual cannot trade values as he voluntarily chooses, then he suffers from an injustice.

Values are a matter of individual choice. Some individuals value the ballet and others value baseball. Some value parks and others value shopping malls. Some value renewable energy and some do not. For those who do not value renewable energy, mandates impose an undeserved penalty in the form of higher costs.