Can Wyoming Lower It’s Power Bills By Taxing Other States?

Wyoming legislators continue to look for new ways to lower the state's rising electricity rates.

An idea that failed in the last legislative session is reborn.

Wyoming lawmakers want to shift the tax burden from Wyoming customers to ratepayers in other states.

The state's new Electricity Tax Subcommittee is tasked with exploring a new tax on electricity generation for other states.

If they can do that then they will then reduce the sales tax on electricity sold within the state.

Wyoming utilities create more power than they need.

Around 60% of the power generated in the state is sold to other states.

So why not tax it, they figure.

Wyoming residents have to pay a tax when they purchase Wyoming power. So let ratepayers from other states pay that same tax.

The savings would be passed on to Wyoming ratepayers.

There are several reasons for the rise in power costs in Wyoming.

Inflation and the cost of fuel due to increasing federal regulations are among them.

Wyoming utility payers are not going to be happy as 145,000 of them will make a down payment on a project that will end up costing BILLIONS.

New rates are a result of implementing a controversial carbon capture system in coal-fired power plants.

The rate increases are due to the state's mandate for utilities to continue burning coal. Not Federal mandates, but State Of Wyoming mandates.

Installing carbon capture could cost anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion per coal-fired unit.

A recent report on carbon capture found most installations failed outright to capture emissions or underperformed. May such systems have been abandoned.