Across Colorado, electricity prices keep rising and those increases fall hardest on the poor. Budgets are already stretched thin, even a small jump in the monthly power bill can mean choosing between: groceries, medicine or heat. That’s why the cost of power matters. Today, gas-generated electricity remains the most reliable and affordable option for protecting people who are struggling.
Solar is often marketed as a “cheap” alternative, but the facts tell a different story. New federal tariffs on imported solar panels and the expiration of subsidies pushed real costs of solar much higher. Analysts now place daytime only solar power between $47 and $96 per megawatt-hour.
To provide electricity through long winter nights, solar requires 10 to 12 hours of battery storage. Adding storage increases the real cost of firmed solar to $120 to $200 per megawatt-hour. That is more than double natural gas.
Natural gas electric generation, by contrast, delivers 24/7 power for about $50 per megawatt-hour. Plus, it doesn’t require thousands of acres of land or hundreds of millions for battery infrastructure. And in regions like La Plata County, where natural gas is produced locally, it keeps energy spending and jobs within the community.
If we care about protecting the poor, seniors on fixed incomes and working households living paycheck to paycheck, we must prioritize affordable, reliable power. That means recognizing that natural gas generation of electricity currently provides the most dependable and cost-effective path forward.
Good energy policy should lift people up not push them further into hardship.
Patrick Hegarty
Durango