Government mandates are set to cost consumers billions in 2014, and not just in health care, according to Bloomberg News. The Renewable Fuel Standard requires refiners to mix ethanol into gasoline for consumers’ cars and trucks. First passed in 2005 as part of the Energy Policy Act, then expanded in the 2007 Energy Independence Security Act, the RFS orders refineries to use at least 15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol a year by 2022.

The refineries dislike the RFS because it forces them to buy the ethanol, then invest in and maintain the facilities necessary to mix it into gasoline. That drives up consumer prices. Ethanol hurts consumers even more because the RFS mandate makes cars and trucks less efficient. The reason is that equal measures of ethanol and gasoline produce unequal amounts of energy. The gasoline produces more energy per unit consumed. Add ethanol to the gasoline and consumers have to buy more at a higher price. Consumers also lose since every kernel of corn used for ethanol is one less kernel for food. The National Council of Chain Restaurants has estimated that the RFS boosted chicken prices 7.7 percent last year, beef prices by 7.5 percent and potatoes 13 percent.