A statewide poll of voting Texans suggests consumers favor gasover costlier non-conventional energy technologies such as solarand wind. Responding to the ninth annual Texas Interested Citizens(TIC) Statewide Poll, conducted in late September, more than halfthe respondents, 56% said they would not be willing to pay more forelectricity produced by solar and wind power.

One in three voters indicated a willingness to pay more forelectricity produced from non-traditional energy resources, and 22%favored the idea of government-mandated use of cleaner but moreexpensive wind and solar for power generation. Sixty percent ofthose polled rejected such mandates.

“These poll results are proof that consumers – and voters – knowwhat they want: the cleanest available energy source for the lowestpossible price. Today, that energy source is clean, cost-efficientand abundant natural gas,” said Don Niemiec, vice president,marketing for Union Pacific Resources. “Customers also know whatthey do not want, and that is government intervention in themarketplace to force the use of more expensive energy sources.”

Three energy-related questions were contained in the TIC poll.UPR commissioned the questions, which were asked of 1,207 randomlyselected registered voters from more than 140 of Texas’s 256counties. The sample was designed to closely reflect the knowndemographic traits of Texas’s voting population. The poll’s marginof error is less than three percent, with a 95% confidence factor.

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