Beacon Hill Institute: NJ Windmill Subsidies Will Drive Up Electricity Rates, Kill Jobs

For Immediate Release – June 28, 2011

New Report on New Jersey’s Planned Offshore Windmill Project Shows Boondoggle Will Raise Electricity Costs, Kill Thousands of Jobs

Beacon Hill Institute Report Exposes Folly of New Jersey’s Quest to Build Offshore Wind Power Capacity

CLICK HERE for the full report from the Beacon Hill Institute

CLICK HERE for the Quick Findings from the Beacon Hill Institute report

CLICK HERE for the Beacon Hill Institute presentation

BOGOTA, NJ – New Jersey’s offshore windmill subsidies could have a further devastating effect on energy costs and the state’s economy a new report says. The study was prepared by the Beacon Hill Institute and commissioned by Americans for Prosperity.

“This analysis is devastating,” said Americans for Prosperity state director Steve Lonegan. “This report definitively shows that offshore windmill farms are a bad deal for New Jersey.

“The subsidies rip off taxpayers. The higher costs hurt families and destroy jobs. The only winners are the power companies who will make millions off of this scheme.

“This project needs to be stopped now before our economy is hurt even more. Ratepayers have had enough,” said Lonegan.

Key Findings of The Beacon Hill Study

• The project would produce a net cost of $3.245 billion to New Jersey, within a range of $2.106 billion and $4.137 billion,

• New Jersey’s electricity prices will increase by 2.1 percent, in 2017, within a range of 0.5 percent and 4.2 percent; and

• From 2017 to 2036, the average household ratepayer will pay $431 in higher electricity costs; while the average commercial ratepayer will pay an extra $3,054 and the average industrial ratepayer an extra $109,335.

• New Jersey will lose an average of 2,219 jobs, within a range of 528 jobs and 4,440 jobs.

Lonegan added, “Whatever the actual numbers turn out to be there’s no good news in this report. If this boondoggle is continued, five years from now it will be something everyone will regret.”

Attachments