Recently, my five kids got a taste of European living. We visited Big Ben and the Tower of London and back at our Airbnb, we sweltered in 80-degree heat with no A/C and hung our laundry to dry.They loved the sightseeing. The no-air-conditioning part? Not so much.In Maryland, our summer electricity bills soar as temperatures rise. Every now and then, the utility company includes cheerful tips to cut costs along with our bill suggestions like turning the A/C down or off and line-drying laundry. Well, I just spent a week doing exactly that. Lets just say I have no plans to make it a permanent lifestyle.CALIFORNIA'S GREEN NEW SCAM COULD COST YOU $20,000This summer, were bracing for even higher bills and potential outages. On especially hot days, we were already getting texts from our energy provider warning of strain on the grid. Its only going to get worse this year.When we first moved in and signed up for service with our energy company, we opted for a budget plan. Then we learned it came with a catch: they could cut or reduce our power during peak demand. That constant cycling on and off ended up breaking our already-finicky HVAC system. The savings from that program shaved a few dollars off our bill every month but it cost us over $10,000 in a new HVAC unit.The way to lower our costs isnt these bait-and-switch programs, but changing the irresponsible way our state government handles our energy.GREEN NEW HEADACHE: DEMS FLEE GOVS GREEN ENERGY MASTER PLAN AS ELECTION APPROACHESIncreased usage with the seasonal weather changes isnt the only reason costs are climbing. Maryland residents are now paying more to import electricity from out of state, thanks to lawmakers who pushed to shut down coal and natural gas plants our primary energy sources without any viable alternatives in place.Marylands climate goals are nothing if not ambitious: a 60% reduction in emissions by 2031 and net-zero by 2045. But these targets seem less like a plan and more like numbers pulled from a hat. No roadmap, no accountability, and certainly no grasp of the real-world impact on families like mine.Worse, Maryland began phasing out power plants with no replacement ready to go. Only 7% of our electricity comes from renewables, so were importing more at higher cost. Those costs are, of course, passed directly to taxpayers.It doesnt stop there. The governments of Baltimore, Annapolis and Anne Arundel County are pursuing lawsuits against energy companies, blaming them for climate change. These suits claim fossil fuel companies have long known their products were damaging the planet. HOCHUL SPEARHEADS PLAN TO PAY NYERS TO SWITCH TO GREEN APPLIANCES AMID STATE MONEY WOESSuing them doesnt cool our homes; its an exercise in futility. But the cost of fighting this litigation passes more costs down to their constituents: businesses and families just trying to survive.If successful, these lawsuits could force energy companies to pay billions. Those costs wont come from corporate profits theyll show up on our bills. Companies may leave the state or raise rates just to keep the lights on.Meanwhile, taxpayers are funding feel-good programs that are failing to deliver real results. One such program: Maryland taxpayers shelled out $51 million to promote electric vehicles and build charging stations. Watchdog groups say these programs lost money and failed to accomplish their goals.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONThese issues arent unique to Maryland. We rank 14th worst in the country for electric costs and 13 of those 14 states are deep blue. What does that tell you?TRUMP SCORES WIN AS NJ HALTS OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTAs summer heats up, families in progressive-run states face tough choices: rework the family budget or hang up a clothesline and start sleeping in the basement.Im charmed by parts of European living but Im not signing up for the whole package.One would think, after seeing how the government in England has tried to force renewable energy onto its citizens, and the crushing financial burden it has placed on residents, that the rest of the world would have learned from their mistakes.As in the U.K., we know that, especially for folks like a single mom or recent immigrant living paycheck to paycheck, they don't just find high energy costs inconvenient theyre potentially financially devastating. They mean the difference between making rent or not, between dinner on the table or an empty fridge.There was a time when progressives loved to say, "Check your privilege." Funny, we dont hear much of that anymore especially from the policymakers pushing costly climate agendas that burden the very people they claim to represent. Handsomely paid legislators are spending our money in their pursuit of their own progressive ideology and agendas.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM BETHANY MANDEL