Thursday, April 4, 2013

Stunning Fact: Top Ten Wind States All Have Electric Rates Below The National Average

Wind power now provides from nearly 10% to 25% of the electricity in 10 states, and those top ten wind  states all enjoy electric rates below the national average of 9.66 cents per kilowatt-hour as of January 2013.
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_06_b.  Indeed, they have rates that range from 5% to 33% below the national average.

The 10 states with the highest portion of their electricity coming from wind are Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wyoming.
http://www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2013/highlights37.  In those states, electric rates are from a low of 6.74 cents per kilowatt-hour in Oklahoma to a high of 9.22 cents per kilowatt-hour in Colorado.
Though Colorado has the highest electric rate in the top ten wind states, Colorado's electric rate is still about 5% below the national average.

Did wind alone create electricity rates below the national average in these top 10 wind states? It did not.  But this data shows that large amounts of wind power do not cause high electricity rates. Indeed, in these states, wind power will be a significant hedge against fossil fuel price volatility in the coming decades.


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