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With New Federal Pollution Rule, Missouri Residents Will See Lower Electricity Bills

July 28, 2015

With New Federal Pollution Rule, Missouri Residents Will See Lower Electricity Bills

EPA’s Clean Power Plan and Energy Efficiency Improvements Will Mean Savings for Missouri Consumers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Missouri electricity consumers will see much-needed savings as a result of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan, according to a new report (PDF) from Public Citizen.

The report, “Clean Power, Clear Savings,” shows that Missouri’s electricity consumption will decrease by up to 10.6 percent by 2030, according to the EPA’s notably conservative data. Missouri’s electricity rates may rise slightly under the Clean Power Plan before dropping. The net effect is that electricity bills will increase slightly in 2020 before declining much more steeply in 2025 and 2030, saving the average Missouri household up to $155 annually, Public Citizen found.

The EPA’s Clean Power Plan, scheduled to be finalized in August, is designed to curb pollution from power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. It sets targets for the reduction of carbon pollution in each state.

As part of the EPA’s plan, states can decide how to meet their targets. They can comply individually or in regional groups, and they can use a mix of strategies – ranging from improving the efficiency of existing coal-fired power plants to using energy efficiency to reduce electricity consumption. Missouri’s compliance plan should include meaningful improvements in energy efficiency, which will lower consumers’ electricity bills.

“The Clean Power Plan is a great opportunity not just to fight climate change, but to lower Missouri’s electricity bills,” said David Arkush, author of the report and managing director of Public Citizen’s Climate Program. “In fact, Missouri can and should go beyond the EPA’s targets when it comes to energy efficiency, saving consumers even more money and doing even more to curb global warming and extreme weather.”

“Missouri should be able to achieve even greater energy savings than the level calculated by the EPA due to the limited scope of programs used in the EPA analysis and the agency’s conservative savings estimates,” said Ryan Kind, former chief energy economist for the Missouri Office of the Public Counsel. “Public Citizen’s Missouri study shows that over time, Missouri’s implementation of the Clean Power Plan should lead to significant savings for most Missouri homes and businesses.”

Read the report.

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