At the first California Air Resources Board (CARB) auction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions permits for its cap-and-trade program in mid-November, prices for year-2013 emissions permits were at or near the $10 per metric ton minimum price. At a $10 permit price, the roughly 150 million metric tons of emissions covered by the program in 2013 have an implicit gross valuation of about $1.5 billion. However, since a significant share of 2013 permits are being distributed to distribution utilities and emitters without charge, impacts on the cost of energy to California consumers will be only a small fraction of the gross permit valuation. By way of comparison, California consumers across all sectors spent roughly $117 billion on energy in 2010, the latest year for which complete data are available, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
See full Press Release:
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=9310#
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