The BPU sent me a large electricity bill this month like they always do this time of year. I set up a fixed automatic payment based on an estimate of what I’ll use for the year. My situation is complicated a bit by the solar panels on my roof. They produce a consistent 5000 kWh or so annually, but do better in summer than winter. My heat pump uses more electricity during the winter for heat and in the summer for AC than in fall or spring. Once per year, I catch up.

This past year, I paid the BPU a total of $880, but $240 of that was for solid waste. The $660 in electricity charges were paid to heat and cool my house, cook my meals, do the laundry, provide lighting, power our electronics, and provide 90% of my transportation for an entire year. I use natural gas only for the hot water heater, everything else is electrified, including my lawnmower. I don’t own a gas can and haven’t stopped for gas for several years. If your car/truck gets 25 MPG and you drive an average 12,000 miles per year, you’ll pay over $2100 just for gas at $4.50/gallon. No wonder the oil companies are spreading so many lies and buying so many politicians.

I have an electric car that I charge mostly at home, so my ‘fuel costs’ are included in that $660. Last week I drove that car to visit my daughter in Boston. It was a relaxing trip with charging on the Thruway being no issue at all. My car is a fairly common model and cost me $350 to lease (with $0 down). I don’t have to pay for tune-ups, gas, mufflers, anti-freeze, or oil changes. I drove back and forth across the entire state and didn’t notice nor care what the price of gas was. EVs work, they are cleaner, healthier, and less expensive.

The Republicans in NY (and the editors of this paper) are crying that it is ‘impossible’ to meet the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandates. They also claim the electric school bus mandate must be delayed because they don’t work in cold weather. Some others writing in this paper claim we ‘need’ natural gas to survive NY winters. I find those claims to be false and prove it with my utility bills. Maine has a program to promote heat pumps as the primary home heating source. They’ve installed 120,000 over the past few years and anticipate reaching 320,000 during 2027.

Last year, 50% of new bus registrations in Germany (farther north than NY) were fully electric. Finland (does it get cold in Finland?) went from one fully electric bus in 2018 to 600 by 2025. Fully half of their public transit buses are now electric. China, where the average January temperature in Beijing is 19 degrees F, has over 400,000 electric buses operating today. Electric transportation, cars, heavy trucks, ferries, and buses are rapidly overtaking Europe. One third of every car now sold worldwide has a plug. Half of new heavy truck registrations in China are electric. Leadership in these countries is taking their citizens toward the future. Republican politicians here are dragging us back to the 1950s.

There are challenges to overcome in any energy transition. There are economies of scale to be ramped up. There is a learning curve to any new technology, but you have to be willing to learn if you are to overcome a learning curve. That is the reason for subsidies and rebates, to encourage people to cross that learning curve. The oil age is behind us, it is now the age of electricity and the US is being left behind.

If Republicans were truly working in the interests of the people of this state and country, instead of the interests of their wealthy donors, they would be promoting adoption of new energy sources and energy-efficient technologies, because it is not only possible, it is healthier, and less expensive. Instead, they are turning the US into a ‘can’t do’ country and an island of backwardness.

Tom Meara is a Jamestown resident.