Do Mandatory U.S. State Renewable Portfolio Standards Increase Electricity Prices?

Hongbo Wang

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) are U.S. state mandates that utilities produce some of their electricity using renewable energy sources in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While advocates highlight the potential long-term benefits of RPS, critics argue that RPS will increase electricity prices due to the higher costs of renewable energy generation. However, to date, there are no published empirical studies of the effect of RPS on electricity prices. Using state-level panel data from 1990 to 2011 and the difference-in-differences (DID) method, I find that implementation increases electricity prices when the RPS policy first becomes binding.

Keywords: Renewable Portfolio Standards; State electricity prices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q42 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-10-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Do Mandatory U.S. State Renewable Portfolio Standards Increase Electricity Prices? (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:59165

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