Charging electric vehicles in Britain soon will be more expensive than filling up gasoline-powered cars thanks to soaring electricity costs — an economic switcheroo that could be a harbinger of shrinking financial benefits for Americans who go green.
British energy regulators told electricity consumers to expect to pay 80% more beginning Oct. 1. The national price cap on residential electricity will send the average bill from about $190 per month to an estimated $343 per month, or more than $4,000 per year.
The shocking price hike stems from the nation’s limited reserves and Russia’s cutoff of one of the region’s major sources of electricity generation: natural gas. British energy prices eclipsed those of many other Europeans because the nation lacks domestic energy storage and production of natural gas, nuclear and renewables, making it more reliant on imports.
Kenny Stein, policy director of the Institute for Energy Research, warned that the financial hardship in Europe from rising energy prices is an omen for Americans if the U.S. transitions from fossil fuels to renewables faster than the supply can handle.
“For the U.S., this actually gets to an underlying fallacy of a lot of people that are pushing electric vehicles: They assert electric vehicles are cheaper because they assume electricity prices are going to stay cheap,” Mr. Stein said. “You’re combining the increased demands on electricity. That means you’ve got to build a new generation.”
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