Cleaner air from less coal burning expected to raise electricity costs for millions of Americans

This ad is based on false assumptions. See below.

Tougher clean-air regulations that have shuttered some coal plants, along with competition from natural gas and solar power, plus a brutal winter that caused prices to surge by 1,000 percent in some areas, could mean higher electricity costs this year for many Americans, reports EnergyWire.

"The Department of Energy predicts power prices will go up by an average of 4 percent this year," EnergyWire says. The DOE also "projects that by the end of the decade, coal plants with the capability of powering 33 million homes will shut down. That could lead to an additional 13 percent price hike by 2020, energy officials said." (Read more)

Coal "used to produce 40 percent of the nation's electricity, more than any other fuel. Because it is cheap and abundant and can be stored on power plant grounds, it helps keep prices stable and power flowing even when demand spikes," Jonathan Fahey reports for The Associated Press. "Natural gas, which accounts for 26 percent of the nation's electricity, has dropped in price and become more plentiful because of the fracking boom. But its price is on the rise again, and it is still generally more expensive to produce electricity with gas than with coal." 

  

"Current rules are expected to force power companies to shut down 68 coal plants across 20 states between 2014 and 2017, according to Bentek Energy, a market analysis firm," Fahey writes. Environmental Protection Agency clean-air rules, which are expected to be announced in June, "could accelerate the move away from coal - if it survives the legal and political challenges that are sure to come." (Read more)

The Washington Post's Fact Checker column finds fault with a National Mining Association radio ad that says electric rates are going up 80 percent.