ELI5/ Why is the cost of electricity constantly increasing despite the increasing amount of renewable and green energy?

Question

I understand there is installation, maintenance and servicing costs, but shouldn’t the free power from the sun, wind and tidal eventually pay this off and start providing free power?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

One big reason is that we tie the price we pay to usage, but that has to pay for both power generation and transport. As we use less and less power with more efficient technology, we can generate less and less power, but that transportation portion still needs to be paid off to maintain the lines. 

So the price per kWh goes up to compensate.