At TEA we’re often warning of the dangers of the green-at-any-cost agenda and the damage it will do to clean, affordable and reliable American energy. Thankfully, we haven’t quite reached that dire energy future yet, so it’s often like we are making predictions by looking into a crystal ball.

However, unfortunately for the working families and businesses of California, that state has created a dark reality where we can see how extreme energy policies that artificially prop up renewable energy will harm everyday Americans and businesses.

An article by energy expert Robert Bryce shows the damage that California has done to its electrical grid and its citizens as a result of its extreme “green” agenda. Since 2008—when California first embraced green energy mandates, wind and solar have grown to make up nearly 26% of the state’s electricity generation mix.

And with that increase, California’s residential electricity prices have skyrocketed. From 2008 to 2023, their rates have increased 3.2x faster than the rest of the country’s.

But for all that money, the state has achieved little result—besides increasing the burden of energy costs on its most vulnerable citizens. The CO₂ intensity of California’s electricity generation is not decreasing. Meanwhile, it has been shown that the subsidies that prop up residential solar benefit wealthier citizens (that can afford to cover their homes in solar panels for a tax break) at the expense of the low-income Californians.

California has given us a look into the green-at-any-cost crystal ball and the future it shows is not bright. State and local leaders across the country that are also falling into the green agenda trap need to take pause and recognize the harm California’s policies have caused its citizens. It’s not too late for the rest of the country to learn from these hard lessons and build a brighter American energy future.

For more information on an energy plan that works for the American people, check out TEA’s Common Sense Energy Agenda.