If you have your most recent electric bill handy, take a look at the bottom line. Now multiply that number by four. That’s what consumers might be looking at in the not-too-distant future if the challenges of increasing electricity demand, coupled with flat growth in supply and climate-change legislation, are not met with solutions that keep ratepayers in mind.

Building new generation plants has always been a difficult task, and now concerns about greenhouse gases have made that job even harder. With an uncertain regulatory climate, banks are looking twice at power projects. Their concern is that if a coal-fired plant were hit with increased regulatory costs associated with carbon emissions, the loans would be riskier. That could make the financing of needed baseload generation difficult. And even though Texas’ supply of carbon-free energy, such as wind, is growing, baseload generation powered by coal and natural gas will remain a necessity for the foreseeable future because renewables just are not able—as yet—to keep up with demand.

We at Bandera Electric Cooperative are concerned about our energy future. We know that demand for electricity is rising—up about 2 percent each year. We also see that the electricity supply is not keeping up with that increasing demand. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics knows what happens when supply does not keep up with demand: Prices rise. Throw into that mix potential federal or state regulation of carbon output, and the outlook for the electricity picture becomes uncertain.

We at BEC are also concerned with the environment. We know that steps will be taken to address global warming issues. But we want to make sure those steps don’t send rural Texans or the U.S. economy over a cliff. There must be a balance we can strike between reasonable costs and ample supplies that is environmentally responsible.

Electric cooperatives, as we always have, stand firmly in our members’ corner, and we are already working to address these concerns. By adding the weight of your collective voices to the discussion, you remind the politicians and policymakers in Austin and in Washington to look for solutions that keep you—and your pocketbook— in mind.

If you don’t want to be left literally in the dark, you might consider contacting your elected officials and starting a dialogue regarding the energy future of the United States. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the national organization of electric cooperatives, has made this process easy and convenient with the “Our Energy, Our Future” campaign.

At the website www.ourenergy.coop, co-op members will find step-by-step instructions for getting their questions and concerns heard by our national leaders. Here are three questions you can use to start the discussions:

1. Experts say that our nation’s growing electricity needs will soon go well beyond what renewables, conservation and efficiency can provide. What is your plan to make sure we have the electricity we’ll need in the future?

2. What are you doing to fully fund the research required to make emissions-free electric plants an affordable reality?

3. Balancing electricity needs and environmental goals will be difficult. How much is all this going to increase my electric bill, and what will you do to make it affordable?

We urge you to get involved and to let our elected officials know that they must take you and your family into consideration when crafting our energy future. After all, you ultimately will bear the cost of whatever solution is mandated.