Clean Energy Saves $200/Year for Texas Households

Texas' nation-leading clean energy resources saved the average household about $200 per year over the past five years, according to a new study released Monday.

All told, clean Texas energy saved Texans roughly $31.5 billion in wholesale electricity costs over the past 12 years, according to the study, which was conducted by IdeaSmiths LLC for the Texas Consumer Association and the Consumer Fund of Texas, a 501(c)(3) research organization.

In 2022 alone, Texans saved about $11 billion in reduced wholesale electricity market costs, the study found, due to high fuel prices and clean energy growth.

“This report is only the latest datapoint demonstrating the enormous value that clean energy creates for Texans,” said Dr. Joshua Rhodes, Research Scientist at The University of Texas at Austin and the CTO of IdeaSmiths, who led the study. “It highlights the direct connection between clean energy resources and lower electricity costs — and it shows that legislation weakening or undermining Texas’ clean energy industry will directly impact consumers.”

The $200 annual savings on electric bills represents about a quarter of the savings that most Texans would expect to see under property tax cut plans proposed in both the state Senate and House of Representatives, said Sandie Haverlah, president of the Texas Consumer Association. 

In other words, she noted, efforts to attack clean energy will eat into any savings that a property tax cut would create.

“It’s more than irresponsible to attack clean Texas energy — it’s also aggressively anti-consumer,” Haverlah said. “State leaders say they want to give ratepayers a break. They should start by supporting the development of inexpensive generation, not just gas- and coal-based electricity that causes power bills to spike.”

Most of the savings derive from the cost of coal, gas and other fossil fuel-fired electricity, which Texans don’t have to buy due to the state’s vast, growing and much-cheaper solar and wind resources. Texas is the leading wind power generator in the nation, and it’s on pace to pass California as the country’s leading solar state this year.

This clean energy growth promises even more energy savings, Rhodes said. The report projects that renewables could reduce wholesale electricity costs $6.1 billion–$15.2 billion per year over the next few years, depending on the future price of gas.

In this, the report states, clean energy represents a valuable price hedge against the volatility of gas and coal prices, “both of which were significantly more expensive and volatile in 2022 than the preceding years.”

The benefits from Texas' clean energy resources also extended to water, the report found: “Without renewables, power plants would have consumed an additional 252 billion gallons of water from 2010 to 2022, adding water stress to regions that are often in drought.” That amount of water is worth between $800 million and $1.8 billion.

Further, emissions reductions created by the growing use of clean energy have cumulatively saved Texans between $10.4 billion and $77.6 billion through lower healthcare and environmental costs, the report said.

All told, the report shows that the state’s renewable energy resources “provided between $42 billion and $109 billion (about $52.1 billion using median values for water and emissions) in total benefits to Texas residents” between 2010 and 2022.

Texas Consumer Association | https://www.texasconsumer.org/