One of the important things that Georgetown's leadership does not tell us is that all the citizens of Texas and the United States subsidize the generation of electricity by solar and wind generators. So that Georgetown's electric customers pay relative cheap electric rates, others have their wealth taken from them to the benefit of Georgetown electric users. This wealth transfer system is not discussed by our elected officials, they only extol the benefits to the local citizens. Thus, we do not know the true costs of our electricity and who pays the subsidy.
The Austin Stateman has an excellent analysis that begins to expose the wealth transfer from all Texas taxpayers to rural school districts via tax abatement policies that benefit the wind and solar generating companies. The analysis only examines the gross wealth transfer to the wind generation companies through reduction in local property taxes paid to school districts, which is then backfilled from Texas state revenue taken from the Texas taxpayer.
The exact same mechanisms are used to subsidize the solar generating companies. The bankrupt SunEdison company and a subsidiary are receiving property tax relief for building and operating the solar plant that is to provide electricity to Georgetown. A later blog will identify the specific tax relief being provided by the local county and school district.
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