Who is ready for more sticker shock at the grocery store? Well…get ready. It’s going to happen right here in Maryland.
On March 1, the Senate Committee on Education, Energy and the Environment voted favorably on Senate Bill 1, which means it will now go to the Senate for likely approval. If passed, it will end retail energy competition and choice in Maryland, and take us back to the days when everyone was forced to shop with the government-backed utilities.
It’s arguably the most anti-business and anti-consumer bill I’ve ever seen brought before the General Assembly. And if possible, the bill has gotten even worse.
Amendments have been added to the bill that will prohibit a green energy producer from marketing “green energy” unless it has been approved as such by the Public Service Commission. Which must, according to the bill language, consider THE STATE WHERE THE RENEWABLE ENERGY WAS PRODUCED.
Here’s what this means:
There will be even more pressure to chew up Maryland farmland for the installation of solar panels.
As a result, there will be fewer family farms producing less food for local consumption, and prices at the grocery store will go up even more than they already have.
That’s basic economics.
To summarize, we will be paying even more for our electricity because that’s what always happens in a monopoly.
And now we will pay more for our milk, bread, eggs and vegetables.
This is a windfall for the big utilities and it is a land grab for big energy corporations. It is a punch in the gut for consumers who don’t need and cannot afford to deal with higher costs at the grocery store.
Senate Bill 1 is anti-business. It is anti-consumer. And it is anti-green energy. Please contact your senator and delegates today and ask them to tap the brakes and think this through before voting for a bad bill.
Len N. Foxwell is the principal of Tred Avon Strategies and the former chief of staff to Comptroller Peter V. R. Franchot
Dear Mr. Foxwell,
I disagree with your understanding of economics. In order for the increase in solar farms to drive up the cost of groceries, it must cause the supply of agricultural farmland to fall below the demand for farmland. Maryland has almost one-third of its land (32%) in agricultural production with 70% of that land in cropland producing corn, soybeans and wheat – not grocery products. Given the small size of Maryland, I would also guess that most of Maryland’s food products are imported from other states and countries. While the amount of agricultural acreage is trending downward, as it is in many states, the loss is primarily attributed to low-density residential housing, not solar farms.