Electricity Prices Going Up? Green Policy Is to Blame – Cornwall Alliance

Electricity prices are rising, and Democrats are making it a campaign issue. They blame the price hike on President Trump and congressional Republicans, who ended Biden-era renewable-energy subsidies in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But prices are actually soaring because of plant closures and natural-gas shortages in blue states, all in the name of green energy.

Energy Department data show that electricity prices in California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York have risen more than 30% in the past five years compared with just 22.5% nationally. Because of climate policies, these states closed most of their coal-fired power plants and nuclear facilities over the past 15 years, making nonrenewable energy generation more difficult. In comparison, prices in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Texas and other states hampered less by green energy initiatives are rising less than the U.S. average. These states continue to be more friendly to lower-cost hydrocarbon fuels for electricity generation.

Massachusetts has a similar issue: Residential power prices are the third highest in the nation. The state produces only about half as much electricity as it did in 2010 because of closures of coal plants and the Pilgrim nuclear plant in 2019. But the state is still moving forward with renewables: Solar power provided a quarter of Massachusetts power generation 2024. The 2023 Massachusetts Climate Report Card calls for “substantial additions” of clean energy to reduce greenhouse gasses—and it warns of “significant challenges” to meeting its longer term goals.

Green policies have created a costly natural-gas shortage in New England. In 2024 gas generated 55% of the electricity for New England homes. But for more than a decade, New York blocked the construction of gas pipelines to New England in an effort to decarbonize. To reduce the shortage, Massachusetts imports liquefied natural gas from Canada and overseas locations at higher prices.

The lack of pipelines forces residents in Connecticut and other New England states to pay as much as double the price for gas compared to residents in other states. Connecticut electricity prices have climbed 31% in the past five years largely because of the gas restrictions. The Trump administration is pushing to revive two pipeline projects that New York previously blocked to bring lower-cost gas to New England.