In her annual State of the State address, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she’s fighting for energy affordability for residents. Unfortunately for the governor, her policies contributed to Massachusetts’ electricity crisis.
According to new polling from Independent Women, 85% of Massachusetts women say they’re paying more for their electricity bills, compared to five years ago. Half of them blame state politicians for misleading them about the effectiveness and true costs of green energy policies.
Of all the New England states, Massachusetts adopted aggressive climate policies to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050. Massachusetts’ decarbonization plans, not oil and gas companies or federal policies, are responsible for inviting energy insecurity and higher energy costs. Congress gave states near-exclusive power under the Federal Power Act to set energy policies, including green mandates. Unsurprisingly, Massachusetts adopted radical climate mandates to drive a transition to 100% renewable energy, ban gas-powered cars and implement energy-efficiency standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over 20 years.
Between 2019 and 2024, electricity prices in Massachusetts soared 30.4 percent — the fifth most expensive electricity rates in the United States. The average household paid $176.02 monthly in utility bills as of March, or 18% higher than the national average.
Affordability is complicating climate politics in the state. Last November, Rep. Mark Cusack, chair of the House Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, countered Healey’s energy un-affordability plan. His bill to make Massachusetts’ 2030 emissions target non-binding, cut funding for clean energy programs, and mitigate the effect of climate policies on utility bills passed the House of Representatives last month.
Much to Healey’s dismay, there is no green energy transition happening in Massachusetts. The commonwealth primarily runs on natural gas (64%), while 25% of net-electricity generation comes from solar. During Winter Storm Fern, it was petroleum oil and natural gas — not renewables — that kept lights on and houses warm.
If leaders don’t revisit climate policies, the state and region would see energy costs balloon to $815 billion through 2050. There is a solution to the electricity woes — building and approving new natural gas and nuclear energy projects over expensive, unreliable offshore wind and solar projects.
Let’s clear the air — Healey’s Energy Affordability Agenda is failing to deliver cheaper energy costs and risks making our electric grid unreliable.
Offering a yearly $50 electric bill credit and encouraging residents to go solar and install heat pumps won’t stop the electricity crisis. If the governor truly cared about energy affordability, she’d reconsider clean-energy mandates and embrace reliable energy sources.
Jennifer Nassour is a member of the Independent Women’s Network and a former chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.