A national organization opposed to the Right of First Refusal for utilities in the construction of major transmission lines released a new report claiming the refusal of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to enforce competition amounts to a $277 billion electricity price hike.
The issue of ROFRs or Right of First Refusal is under study by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and the state legislature. It is believed some legislators might make another attempt in the upcoming legislative session to file a ROFR bill to give the state’s utilities the right to refuse competition in the construction of major transmission projects.
The Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition described its report as detailing what it called the “significant and un-necessary” costs that could result from the failure of FERC to enforce electricity transmission competition.
In a first-of-its-kind national survey, ETCC found that an overwhelming majority of Americans – 91% – are concerned about rising electricity costs, and 88% of people want policymakers to embrace electricity transmission competition to reduce costs.
The organization also claimed the nation will be forced to spend an estimated $2.1 traillion on new electrical transmission lines as the Biden administration pushes the nation to cleaner energy generation in pursuit of its net-zero goals. The ETCC stated that competitive bidding of electricity transmission projects has been proven to reduce the cost of building new transmission lines by up to 40%
“FERC’s failure to enforce transmission competition will lead to decades of electricity price inflation for American consumers,” declared Paul Cicio, Chair of the Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition.
He went on to state that competition has been the foundation of America’s economic success.
“It is imperative that FERC steps up and enforces Order 1000; and opposes the anti-market, anti-competition position of electric utilities. Billions of dollars of avoidable consumer costs are at risk.”
The full report can be downloaded here.