Gov. McKee Sells Magic Means to Lower Utility Costs
Gov. Dan McKee understands energy like he does bridges.
Last month, the former Cumberland mayor released his fiscal 2027 budget for Rhode Island. It’s a doozy. It’s as if the governor works for the fossil fuel industry and the climate crisis is a hoax.
The programs McKee has cut represent some of the best mechanisms for Rhode Island to take control of its energy future and, as the Acadia Center has noted, keep near- and long-term system costs manageable.
“To tackle energy costs, Rhode Island must do everything within its power to bring more local clean energy online and build a stable energy future,” Emily Koo, Rhode Island program director at Acadia Center, said after the governor’s budget was announced. “The governor’s budget proposal locks Rhode Island into an outdated energy system and strips us of our most potent tools to address skyrocketing energy costs.”
“Rhode Island should be doubling down on the tools still firmly within the state’s control,” according to the Acadia Center. “Instead, Governor McKee’s FY 2027 budget sadly mirrors the short-sighted policies of the Trump Administration, cutting renewables and energy efficiency and delivering what would be a major blow to Rhode Island’s clean energy economy.”
McKee’s budget dismisses a main reason for the state’s renewable energy transition: to shield residents from volatile methane prices and keep some $3 billion annually in fossil fuel spending in the local economy.
The Acadia Center has outlined the “misguided provisions” in the governor’s budget:
Levies a substantial and punitive “grid access fee” (monthly, in perpetuity) and lowers compensation rates for large renewable energy projects (1 megawatt or greater), signaling that Rhode Island is closed to the renewable energy business. “The retroactive nature of the changes (on both existing and new net metering systems) would have a severe chilling effect on the industry at large, implying that Rhode Island’s public policies are not predictable or reliable enough to earn investor confidence.”
Solar developers are required to pay for infrastructure upgrades and to finance them under the laws in effect at the time of interconnection. The solar industry is concerned this provision will drive Rhode Island’s solar industry out of the state.
A range of virtual net metering customers, including municipalities, housing authorities, colleges, universities, and hospitals, would lose substantial value in negotiated discounted electricity. “There are sound, data-driven ways to reform incentive and compensation structures over time, but this proposal takes a cudgel to foundational programs. Instead, a thorough, methodical, and stakeholder-informed process before the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) should determine how Rhode Island’s renewable policies can and should evolve to serve ratepayer interests best.”
Delaying Rhode Island’s 100% Renewable Energy Standard from 2033 to 2050 will prolong the state’s exposure to costly, volatile natural gas, defer and divert job creation opportunities, and jeopardize the state’s ability to meet its economy-wide emission reduction mandates.
Caps Rhode Island’s cost-effective energy efficiency programs at $75 million per year — a stunning 24% below planned 2026 investment levels and 48% below the average of the past five years. Because of ratepayer-funded energy efficiency, Rhode Island’s electric load is 5% lower than it was in 2005, rather than 15% higher. In addition to directly lowering energy bills, energy efficiency is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce energy costs for all consumers.
To read the full article from ecoRI, click here.