Spain's Current And Future Hikes In Electricity Rates Should Be A Wake Up Call On Obama's Going-Green Initiate

When it comes to going green, Spain is a world leader.  Subsequently, the environmental left just loves them for their "greenness".  In fact, if you view many of the eco websites around the Internet, you will see Spain referred to quite often.

Take, for example, this article, Wind Energy Output Hit Record High in Spain (Kept Electricity Prices Lower than Neighbors’), from the website CleanTechnica.com.  In it, there is nothing but glowing praises on how clean energy has helped Spain keep electricity costs down and created jobs. But, that article was written at the end of February.  By March and based on a prior-year Supreme Court ruling, the Spanish government announced that it must allow electricity rates to rise in order to reflect the "true" cost of energy production.  As a result, Spaniards were hit with a 7 percent rate increase in April.  At the time that the rate increase was announced, their energy minister also indicated that rates should have gone up by 40% to meet the Supreme Court mandate; but, didn't because of the hardship it would impose.  (Click here to see the official announcement)  So, you see, Spain's "lower than neighbors" energy costs just was just a lie; hidden by government subsidies. They are a perfect example of how expensive going green can be.

In the U.S., the average electricity bill is just under $1500 a year. In places like the desert Southwest and deep South, that amount can be twice as high. If President Obama is allowed to proceed with his green agenda for the U.S. by installing wind turbines and solar panels and by killing the coal industry, our rates, too, could easily go up by 40%. For an average family, that's $600 more per year that will have to go to pay the electric bill; hurting the poor and low income families the hardest. And let's also not forget that Spain's debt problems are partly a result of going green. Do we really want to become another Spain? I think it should be a true wake up call for all of us.