Higher Prices, Rolling Blackouts: The Northwest Is Bracing for the Effects of a Lagging Green Energy Push

Electric companies in Oregon and Washington are hurtling toward deadlines to stop using coal, gas and other fuels that contribute to global warming.

Yet the states are nowhere near achieving their goals.

Wind, solar and other renewables are the only forms of power that can be added to solve the problem.

The number of utility customers disconnected last year for failure to pay soared to 70,000 .

Projections suggest residents will spend the equivalent of nearly a month annually under the threat of brownouts.

“In the next few years , we may start having to make some tough choices about the availability of electricity,” Hughes said.

For now, she said, her family decided to buy a gas generator for times when their house loses power.