PA Environment Digest Blog: PA Senate Republican Leader: ‘Every Consumer Of Electricity In This Commonwealth Is Going To Pay More;’ ‘What You’re Going To Face Is Going To Be Really Unpleasant’

Senate Republican Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) made these remarks on the Floor of the Senate Wednesday, January 29 in reaction to Gov. Shapiro’s announcement of an agreement with the PJM Interconnection to cap future electricity prices to prevent $21 billion of “unnecessary costs” on Pennsylvania electric consumers.

Gov. Shapiro is scheduled to announce his broader energy plan at a press conference on Thursday, January 30 in Pittsburgh. Read more here.

Last year Senate Republicans uniformly rejected Gov. Shapiro’s offer to work on legislation to make the electric grid more reliable, diversify Pennsylvania’s energy generation, lower energy costs for ratepayers and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Read more here.

Here are Sen. Pittman’s remarks--

The Governor touted an agreement yesterday with the PJM, which is the grid operator for our electricity, that he is going to save consumers of electricity $21 billion.

I think Ms. Minta-Livingood [the Senator’s constituent who appeared at the Govenor’s announcement Wednesday of the agreement] needs to understand the rest of the story.

So let's talk about the rest of the story.

I am very thankful and grateful that the governor is now focused on the pending crisis that we're going to have with our electricity grid, the pending energy crisis that we're going to have.

I commend so many of my friends on the other side of the aisle for recognizing now that we do have an impending crisis. And I welcome you all to the party.

But I want to warn you, that as you're about to face the music, you're not going to like the lyrics.

Because here's the problem: you want it all, but you can't have it.

You want cheap electricity, you want reliable electricity, but you can't have cheap electricity or reliable electricity without having a sustainable generating grid to produce the electricity.

And the truth is, we can't produce the electricity without using our God-given natural resources, our fossil fuels.

That's the truth. And I'm afraid so many can't handle the truth.

Let's be clear what our good governor did.

Our good governor went to the PJM and said, "I can't believe that the last capacity auction that you just had reflected an 800% increase in what you're going to pay generators to ensure that we have electricity to support our power grid. Consumers of electricity can't handle these expenses."

He is correct. But here's the rest of the story.

When the PJM issued their capacity auction in December for the 2025-26 year, they already have agreed to pay generators $270 per megawatt hour. An eight fold increase.

What the agreement has been touted, Mr. President, simply says that when you do the next auction, you can only further increase what you pay generators by another $55.

So here's what's going to happen.

Every consumer of electricity in this Commonwealth is going to pay more electricity.

And every consumer in this Commonwealth is going to pay more under the governor's agreement.

So when you hear about $21 billion of savings, and that conversation is spread across the 13 states of the PJM grid, you have to understand it's like going to the gas station, going to get go, and saving a few cents on an already increased price.

Consumers of electricity are still going to pay more. Period. Full stop.

And I certainly don't want my constituent, or any of our mutual constituents in this Commonwealth, leaving here today thinking that they just got a break on their electricity bill.

Now, energy and electricity has been a conversation that we and our [Republican] caucus have had for years.

We've talked a lot about this little thing called RGGI [Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative] . We'll talk more about that next week.

But let's focus on the fundamentals of what we're talking about, in its simple supply and demand.

If you want to have electric vehicles, if you want to have artificial intelligence, if you want a reliable grid, you have to have the power to sustain it.

And when you look at our renewable energy sources, Mr. President [of the Senate], the reality is the PJM looks at them. And if you have a hundred megawatt solar field, the reliability index is nine megawatts. 9% of what comes from a renewable is considered reliable.

And if you look at our grid, I look at our grid every day, the PJM, what fuels the grid? Nuclear, coal, and natural gas. Period. Full stop.

We just had the highest peak demand of the PJM in history a week ago. Thankfully, our current generating fleet was able to meet that demand.

But I think we have to remind ourselves of the realities, Mr. President. Even if you want windmills, you're going to have to have fracking; if you want solar panels, you're going to have to have mining. It's the reality.

There is no source of electricity that is devoid of an environmental impact.

If you want to feel good about not emitting carbon during the production of that electricity, that's great, feel good about it.

But you better look at the supply chain and what it took to actually bring it to the marketplace, and what it means in terms of the sustainability of our power grid.

So let there be no mistake. This is a crisis. This is an issue that we're all going to have to confront.

We've been at the party for a long time. We've accepted the lyrics of the music.

And the lyrics are pretty simple: if you want it all, you're going to have to use fossil fuels to power the grid. And that's a fact.

And if you want to keep going down this path and dissuading [electric] generation from coming onto the grid of all types, then you [have] got to understand that what we're coming to now is the crisis that we're facing.

And so when you look at the rest of the story of this agreement, I think it's important to point out one other piece.

The PJM months ago asked FERC for an ability to bring additional generation into the queue more quickly.

And I know the governor talked about the much-ballyhooed Three Mile Island project as a potential source.

But here are the facts of what it means to bring things into the queue more quickly.

You're bringing baseload generation into the queue more quickly, which is natural gas.

So, the queue is just now been leapfrogging the renewables. That's what the governor announced.

So in that sense, congratulations, because this agreement is going to allow more fossil fuels to be burned, more carbon to be emitted, to try to save our electricity grid from collapse.

And that's the facts.

So Mr. President, as I said, we'll talk much more about this in the weeks and the months ahead, but I don't want there to be any misimpression of what really is going on here.

And every consumer of electricity in this Commonwealth is going to pay more.

They were going to pay more before this agreement, and they're still going to pay more after this agreement.

And after this agreement expires, which I believe is a two-year agreement, as I'm told, look out, because then it's coming.

And the music that you're going to face is going to be really unpleasant.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Click Here for a video of Sen. Pittman’s remarks.

Resource Links:

-- PUC Invites Stakeholder Comments On The Issue Of The Adequacy Of Electricity Supplies In Pennsylvania [Background On Electricity Supply Issue] [PaEN]

-- 30 Stakeholder Comments Received By PUC On Adequacy Of Electricity Supplies In Pennsylvania; Increasing Natural Gas Power Plant Reliability To 90-95% Would Mean No Imminent Capacity Problem [PaEN]

-- PA Senate Republican Leader: ‘Every Consumer Of Electricity In This Commonwealth Is Going To Pay More;’ ‘What You’re Going To Face Is Going To Be Really Unpleasant’ [PaEN]

Resource Links - Republican Energy Proposals:

-- PA Senate Republicans Reintroduce Bills To Eliminate State Appeals Of Pipeline Permits; Limit Grounds For Appeal Of Any DEP Permits; Punish Communities For Protecting Their Constituents Against Shale Gas Drilling Impacts [PaEN]