Free Carbon Emissions Permits Could Create Added Costs. By Anne C. Mulkern, Greenwire, May 30, 2009. "Those free passes that the House climate bill gives to major greenhouse gas-emitting industries might not be so free for consumers... Utility companies and other polluting sectors receive the permits and avoid buying allowances for some carbon dioxide emissions, protecting customers from sharp price increases. But that does not mean other energy prices won't rise. While the allowances likely will cushion increases in electricity bills, economists said, the allowances, combined with a carbon cap, could drive energy cost increases elsewhere, possibly in the gasoline, diesel and heating oil sector... If the program functions similarly to the one that caps sulfur dioxide emissions, utilities forced to buy emission allowances beyond what the free permits cover would be able to seek rate increases, said Dan Cearfoss, chief public utilities engineer with the Georgia Public Service Commission, a regulator in that state.