Editing Smart growth (section)

===Reaction to existing subsidies===
Smart growth advocates claim that much of the urban sprawl of the 20th century was due to government subsidies for infrastructure that redistribute the true costs of sprawl. Examples include subsidies for highway building, fossil fuels, and electricity.

====Electrical subsidies====
With electricity, there is a cost associated with extending and maintaining the service delivery system, as with water and sewage, but there also is a loss in the commodity being delivered. The farther from the generator, the more power is lost in distribution. According to the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]]'s (DOE) Energy Information Administration (EIA), 9 percent of energy is lost in transmission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/eh/total.html |title= Energy in the United States: 1635-2000 |publisher=U.S. Energy Information Administration |access-date=2008-04-25}}</ref>
Current average cost pricing, where customers pay the same price per unit of power regardless of the true cost of their service, subsidizes sprawl development. With electricity deregulation, some states now charge customers/developers fees for extending distribution to new locations rather than rolling such costs into utility rates.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ornl.gov/sci/btc/apps/Restructuring/tm2003_152.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002205001/http://www.ornl.gov/sci/btc/apps/Restructuring/tm2003_152.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Allocating Costs of Ancillary Services: Contingency Reserves and Regulation|archivedate=October 2, 2006|website=www.ornl.gov}}</ref>

New Jersey, for example, has implemented a plan that divides the state into five planning areas, some of which are designated for growth, while others are protected. The state is developing a series of incentives to coax local governments into changing [[zoning laws]] that will be compatible with the state plan. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities recently proposed a revised rule that presents a tiered approach to utility financing. In areas not designated for growth, utilities and their ratepayers are forbidden to cover the costs of extending utility lines to new developments—and developers will be required to pay the full cost of public utility infrastructure. In designated growth areas that have local smart plans endorsed by the State Planning Commission, developers will be refunded the cost of extending utility lines to new developments at two times the rate of the revenue received by developers in smart growth areas that do not have approved plans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nj.gov/dca/osg/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060930205620/http://www.nj.gov/dca/osg/|url-status=dead|title=nj.gov|archivedate=September 30, 2006}}</ref>