Fuel Rates, Mandates, Tariffs Add Punch to Energy Price Stew

As Massachusetts Democrats predict price shocks from President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canadian oil and gas, a Republican senator on Tuesday blamed ballooning ratepayer costs on the state’s clean energy mandates.

In response to Tuesday’s presser, the Acadia Center said high natural gas costs this winter stem from the New England region’s “untenable over reliance on fossil fuels, with rising energy burdens driven by natural gas infrastructure, generous utility profits, and the region’s continued fossil fuel investments.”

“Right now, the region has almost all its eggs in the fossil fuel basket, and this offers only the false promise of fool’s gold in protecting the region’s consumers from rising energy bills,” the Acadia Center said. “The region must double down on its climate and clean energy goals to make the broader northeast region energy independent from fossil fuels, reduce consumer price spikes, and mitigate the economic harms of worsening climate change.”

To read the full article from State House News, click here.

ISO-NE Consumer Liaison Group Discusses Benefits of Energy Efficiency

PROVIDENCE — Speakers at the ISO-NE Consumer Liaison Group on March 27 discussed the system-wide costs and emissions benefits of energy efficiency and demand flexibility and called on policymakers to double down on efficiency programs as energy demand grows.

State energy efficiency programs have faced some political scrutiny in recent months amid high winter energy costs. To help reduce near-term electricity costs, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities in late February directed utilities to shave $500 million off the upcoming three-year plan for the Mass Save energy efficiency program. 

Jamie Dickerson, senior director of climate and clean energy programs at the Acadia Center, said energy efficiency is responsible for a roughly 15% reduction in the region’s overall power demand and has brought more than $55 billion in benefits to the region since 2012.  

He said it’s unfortunate energy efficiency “has emerged as a scapegoat for some,” given the cost reductions it can provide. Moving ahead, he emphasized the importance of energy efficiency as peak loads increase and estimated that achieving 20% demand flexibility in winter could save the region about $8 billion in transmission spending by 2050. 

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

A New Bill in Rhode Island Would Give Electric Ratepayers More Resources to Fight Back

The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission on Friday voted to approve Rhode Island Energy’s proposed summer rates for residential customers, saying customers can expect relief following costly winter bills.

But the new rates have been met with such backlash by community members concerned about surging electric rates that state Rep. Megan Cotter has co-sponsored legislation that would fund customers’ participation in hearings about ratemaking and other issues before the RIPUC.

Part of the reason the new summer rates have been approved, despite public comments and protests, is that community members lack the necessary resources to get a seat in the rooms where decisions about their energy system are being made, said Emily Koo, senior policy advocate and Rhode Island program director at the Acadia Center, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization focusing on climate solutions.

That’s why Cotter, in partnership with the Acadia Center and the Conservation Law Foundation, introduced legislation to create an intervenor support program. The bill would enable individuals or organizations seeking legal representation to take part in evidentiary hearings at the RIPUC and the Energy Facility Siting Board.

“The resources, attorneys, and regulatory and technical knowledge that are needed to be able to participate and present evidence in a way that can actually change decisions is really an issue of access, and so we’re seeing decisions and proceedings not reflecting the public interest,” Koo said.

Unlike public comment hearings, evidentiary hearings work more like a courtroom, Koo explained. During those meetings, commissioners serve like a panel of judges, looking at proposals and evidence presented by the interested parties.

Koo is optimistic that the bill will eventually pass in the state.

“I think that there is a lot of appetite for engaging in the regulatory process, and that this is a really great inclusive program option,” she said.

To read the full article from Inside Climate News, click here.

Maine GOP lawmakers, think tanks blame alt. energy ‘mandates’ for rising costs

Some right-leaning groups are blaming alternative energy for rising rates.

A group of Republican lawmakers from Maine and across New England as well as members of conservative think tanks held a virtual meeting on Tuesday to say “net zero policies” and “energy mandates” are driving up energy costs, squeezing homeowners, and forcing small businesses to absorb price increases.

Clean energy advocates, including Acadia Center, say the group is making false claims.

They say most of the energy in New England comes from fossil fuels and electric energy is projected to bring down costs in the years ahead.

Acadia Center writes in part:

“Fossil fuel-interest think tanks are back with a new round of the same tired and misguided attacks against clean energy policies in New England.”

To read the full article from WGME, click here.

High Energy Costs in the Northeast Fuel Innovation

Saving energy is big business in the Northeast, where electricity costs are 70 percent higher than the U.S. average as of February 2025. In addition to high costs, there’s also increasing demand for electricity in New England, which is expected to grow by about 17 percent from 2024 to 2033, and in New York, where it might nearly double by 2042. On top of that, the Northeast grid is expected to be at “elevated risk” for winter shortfalls of electricity, says the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

Why Democrats joined Trump’s pipeline push

A once-dormant debate over natural gas pipelines in the Northeast is back — courtesy of President Donald Trump.

The idea of building pipelines roiled the region a decade ago. The controversy all but disappeared amid political opposition, as officials in New York and other states ramped up climate targets and rejected permits for planned pipeline projects.

Acadia Center, an environmental group, estimates that natural gas transmission capacity into New England has increased 40 percent since 2014. But those expansion projects have failed to provide consumers with financial relief, said Jamie Dickerson, the group’s senior director for the climate and clean energy program.

“If the concern is the rising cost of folks’ gas bills — which, obviously, it rightly is — I think the logical step is to get off gas and diversify your energy supply and not to double down more on the fuel that’s been sort of driving bills up this winter,” Dickerson said.

To read the full article from E&E News, click here.

Cutting clean energy won’t lower New England utility bills, advocates say

A growing chorus of New England state officials — and not just Republicans — is calling for cuts to clean energy programs in an attempt to rein in high electric bills.

These efforts are underway everywhere from Maine, where legislators are trying to repeal incentives for rooftop and community solar, to deep-blue Massachusetts, where regulators recently slashed $500 million from a proposed energy-efficiency plan.

The irony, clean energy advocates say, is that many of the investments under threat contribute relatively little to customers’ monthly bills and save everyone money in the long run.

“They see these programs as some sort of addition that’s being put on their bill that they don’t see the effects of,” said Kyle Murray, director of state program implementation for climate nonprofit Acadia Center. ​“Cutting these programs will not really save us money, and it will actually end up costing us more money in the long term.”

To read the full article from Canary Media, click here.

Two New England energy companies in surprising alliance with fossil fuel lobby, undercutting climate targets

Last year, two major energy companies working in Massachusetts joined the ranks of an innocuous sounding group: the Consumer Energy Alliance. The organization calls itself “the voice of the energy consumer,” while espousing the “all-of-the-above” approach to energy — oil, natural gas, wind, and solar.

But, according to financial documents, the alliance was formed and is operated by a fossil fuel lobbying group based in Houston. Its stated purpose includes “the promotion and defense of natural gas.”

In Massachusetts, a state that’s set aggressive climate targets, cooperation and buy-in from utilities is a pillar of how the state plans to get there. That makes it “incredibly troubling” that both Eversource, one of the state’s largest gas and electric utilities, and Avangrid, offshore wind developer and the parent company of Berkshire Gas, became members of the alliance last year, said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for the advocacy group the Acadia Center.

“At a time when we know we need to be transitioning off of fossil fuels as soon as is practicable, these companies have instead opted to join with a group dedicated to frustrating that aim, and indeed directly at odds with some of the positive initiatives that these companies have been advancing in the Northeast” like geothermal networks, offshore wind transmission, and more, Murray said.

To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.

Massachusetts-based company launches program to fund community solar projects

With the federal dollars for renewable energy slowing to a trickle or stopping altogether, a Cambridge-based company is looking to provide funding for community solar projects in underserved areas through a new renewable energy credit (REC) program.

With uncertainty surrounding federal funding, programs like Solstice’s renewable energy credits could help bridge the gap for organizations trying to find the money to launch renewable energy projects, said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at the Acadia Center, a non-profit research and advocacy organization dedicated to combatting climate change. Solar developers and organizations working to adopt solar use a variety of different funding mechanisms and that extra $50,000 to $160,000 can put a project over the top, especially for smaller organizations, he added.

“We need to be creative in this environment about how we fund projects, and this seems like it could be promising,” said Murray.

To read the full article from Commonwealth Beacon, click here.

Transforming Connecticut’s Grid: A Smarter Approach to Clean Energy Planning

In November, Vote Solar collaborated with partners, Acadia Center, Save the Sound, and Conservation Law Foundation, to submit comments to Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) regarding the future of our electric grid planning. And I know, utility commissions are not a kitchen table topic, but their decisions—like setting energy prices—have real impacts on your household budget and Connecticut’s clean energy future.

To read the full article from Vote Solar, click here.