Gov. McKee Sells Magic Means to Lower Utility Costs
February 12, 2026
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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.
His budget proposal includes sweeping rollbacks of renewable energy and climate policies implemented to help the Ocean State tame a two-headed monster: the climate crisis and escalating utility costs. Renewable energy is the future; fossil fuels are the past. The sooner we arrive in the future, the cleaner and less expensive our energy will be.
McKee’s shortsighted move of trashing renewable energy programs and shredding climate policy in the name of energy affordability is about one thing: getting reelected. It’s the same reason he finally forced Peter Alviti out. The Rhode Island Department of Transportation director could no longer help McKee remain in office. (In McKee’s defense, his predecessor should never had nominated Alviti nor the Senate confirm him, twice.)
These moves certainly aren’t about leadership. They are about hanging on to power.
On Monday, at the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers in Warwick, McKee continued his energy austerity campaign, which his office has dubbed “Governor’s Affordability for All.” He signed an executive order — backed by executives from businesses that use a lot of energy — that supports his efforts “to build on his budget proposal for lowering energy costs by $1 billion over five years while creating an affordable path to the state’s climate goals,” according to a press release from his office.
Since McKee signed the Act on Climate bill into law in April 2021, he should be aware the legislation “sets enforceable climate emissions reduction mandates,” not goals.
Hope won’t reduce Rhode Island’s greenhouse gas emissions. That requires programs, policy, and some political will.
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.
During a time when the Mad King and his cabinet creeps are attacking renewable energy (and people) and encouraging polluters to pollute more, a wise governor would be building upon the fragile foundation the General Assembly has built to address the dual climate change/energy costs crisis. Instead, McKee takes a sledgehammer to it.
McKee’s solution to the Mad King’s assault on renewable energy is to protect Big Oil. His executive order directs the state Office of Energy Resources and other agencies to conduct a review of the state’s Net Metering Program and its Renewable Energy Growth Program, both of which support shifts toward renewable energy.
His office’s press release touting his going-backward executive order doesn’t mention fossil fuels or climate change, but it does acknowledge the “Trump Administration has gutted many clean energy programs and incentives, making the cost of meeting state climate goals challenging for Rhode Island ratepayers.”
Instead of fighting the corrupt regime or coming up with a plan to counter its selfish actions, McKee throws up his hands.
“With fewer clean energy sources available, the Renewable Energy Standard charge on your bill is projected to quadruple by 2033,” McKee said. “Meanwhile, ratepayer costs for large-scale solar projects have ballooned in recent years, growing 250% in the last five years alone.”
Fossil fuel projects must not cost ratepayers a dime.
In reality, the average compensation for U.S. fossil fuel CEOs in 2024 was nearly $18.5 million. CEOs of the 10 largest U.S. utilities were paid more than $115 million combined in a recent three-year period as demand for electricity from their fossil fuel power plants jumped substantially because of the burgeoning cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence sectors.
“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.”
McKee has been stuck in the past since he stumbled into the governor’s office.
Joining the governor at this week’s renewable energy mugging were “a number of Rhode Island manufacturing leaders, several of whom shared the impact of spiraling energy costs on their businesses,” according to the administration’s press release.
Personally, I would have rather heard from low-wealth families about how high utility bills are impacting them. But many elected officials, including McKee, disguise their appeasement of special interests with faux concern about the people they help marginalize.
The unhoused need a home before they can worry about the high costs of energy.
The state’s electricity prices have been steadily climbing since well before renewable energy programs were a thing, but, sure, blame local solar and wind for high energy bills and not oil from Oklahoma and Texas, fracked gas from Pennsylvania and Ohio, and liquefied petroleum gas from Venezuela.
Natural gas (methane), not solar and wind, is the primary driver behind soaring power prices in Maine, according to a report recently released by the state’s energy department.
Mainers, like Rhode Islanders, pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country. Solutions to the problem of high energy costs are developing renewable energy, investing in load-flexibility strategies, and continuing to push for home-heating electrification, according to The Brattle Group-prepared report.
“Energy costs are one of the single biggest threats to Rhode Island’s manufacturing competitiveness,” said Melissa Travis, president of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association. “Governor McKee’s executive order supports the necessary steps for restoring balance, protecting jobs, and ensuring that families and businesses are not priced out by policies that ignore real-world impact.”
The real-world impacts of the climate crisis — fueled by the relentless burning of fossil fuels that is heating the planet, stoking extreme weather, and acidifying marine waters — are and will be more costly, especially for the forgotten communities that weren’t invited to McKee’s Affordability for All campaign event.
“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.
Justin Boyan of Climate Action Rhode Island explained it this way: “We don’t believe that Governor McKee’s agenda will actually help with energy affordability. In fact, it goes in the opposite direction we need to be going. Reducing energy efficiency programs will drive up electricity demand. By reducing the net metering and renewable energy standard, the governor is preventing a new energy supply from being built. This agenda will disincentivize new solar and wind projects. If this goes through, we’ll have less energy supply. We’ll have more energy demand. Prices are going to go up. We can cut the incentives and investments that make up a small part of our bill, but the result will be that the rest of our bill, the bigger part, goes up as demand goes up and supply goes down.”
Utility costs for a state that doesn’t have any of its own oil or methane and sits at the end of fossil fuel pipelines is the problem. Those factors aren’t going to change. The solution is funding and supporting responsibly sited renewable energy, not dismantling programs that are designed to accomplish that or expanding fossil fuel infrastructure.
Frank Carini can be reached at [email protected]. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.
it isn’t that McKee is misinformed or wants to protect big oil, he wants to lower utility bills now, as he does propose, for his rejection campaign. What is sad is that it likely will help his re-election, even as future costs, and not just for electricity, will go up. Short term thinking related to election cycles is one of the aspects of democracy. Also sad is that the environment community has been unable to persuade enough of the public to resist this short term thinking, or even to get environment on the agenda of the last election. But at least the latest environmental event at the State House this week did finally emphasize true affordability, we need to keep doing that
Maybe McKee can get a job with the Trump admnistration.
Gas isx what makes electric bills high. States with more renewable power have lower electric bills, and when the new wind farm comes on line RIGHT will have lower electric costs. McKeer should go join the idiots in the Trump administration becasue he did not think through his plan at all. In addition, McKee (and Trump) are threatening the long term viability of the RI ( and national and global) economy because if we do not get climate under control, the economy will be shrinking more and more each year as it gets hotter and the storms get worse.
Maybe. He can follow Gina right the EFF outta here! McKee has been stuck in the past since he stumbled into the governor’s office.
For once, McKee has gotten something right. Climate change has been around for millions of years. There is a debate over how much of it is man made. But even if some was, what Rhode Island does would have about as much affect on it as a few drops in the ocean. The pollution we really do want to reduce, regardless of climate change, is the contamination of the air we breathe, the land we live and grow crops on, and the ocean, which covers three quarters of the Earth’s surface, And the vast majority of that comes from deforestation, agriculture, transportation, and energy production, much of which originates in China, because they do most of our manufacturing for us. Their costs of production are way below ours because they primarily use cheap coal, cheap labor, and have few environmental standards. And by the way, Frank, you need to research your facts a bit more. Natural gas and methane are not the same, and methane, which is 22 times worse for the environment than gas, is not a regular source of energy. Furthermore, it is not just the ratepayers at risk here. The taxpayers and consumers are paying for all this as well. And every real scientific study done on wind vs. gas has proven that wind actually result in more gas use and pollution, not less, while the wind industry relies on computer models. I fear the renewable scam has us on the road to the biggest energy and economic disaster in modern history.
Ben, the largest component of natural gas is methane, at 70%-90%. If I gave you a hamburger that was 70%-90% BS would you still call it a hamburger? As for the rest of your screed, it’s the same tired talking points — blame China, renewable energy is a scam, and recycled lies. — Frank Carini, ecoRI News
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/natural-gas/
You are correct on the mix. The problem is that methane in the gas gets burnt. But most methane comes from agriculture, and the methane emitted from sources like agriculture and landfills gets released without being burnt, which is why it is a much higher contributor to greenhouse gases. I could have worded it better.
100 % Great Truth comment!
McKee will not get my vote with his out-of-date thinking and policies. Unfortunately, R.I. will suffer because of this backward thinking.
Ben’s comments that RI by itself can little effect global climate change raises a point – but the same could be said for any political subdivision of about 1.1 million people. So none of them anywhere need do anything since their contribution is so small. This is a classic Tragedy of the Commons where everyone seeming to follow their self interest ruins the Commons for all.
That said, Ben, and McKee, miss the point that soon enough renewable energy will be cheaper for us than “natural gas” whatever you call it, so as a state with no fossil fuels or self interest is in renewables
Barry, here’s a shortened version of a letter from the President of RI Energy on this subject. Someone else you may disagree with.
Extreme winter weather shows limits of renewable energy:
As Rhode Island debates energy strategy, one lesson from the most recent winter storm should be unmistakable: reliability still depends on base load generation, which can be dispatched quickly and available 24/7/365 regardless of weather. Indeed, what carried the grid during this extreme cold stretch was not wind and solar, but firm, dispatchable power plants operating continuously. That same scenario played out across the country.
During this severe cold snap, ISO New England issued system alerts as electricity demand surged and fuel supplies tightened across the region. Oil-fired generators supplied a substantial share of regional electricity when demand was highest, as natural gas generation was constrained by limited pipeline capacity. At the same time, renewable output – particularly solar – dropped sharply due to snow cover, cloud conditions, and limited daylight. Wind generation, while helpful at times, varied as weather patterns shifted. To make matters worse, the new transmission line from Canada failed to deliver hydro-power to Massachusetts when it was needed most, instead opting to pay penalties and keep the power in Canada.
None of this should surprise anyone familiar with New England’s winter realities. Severe cold brings the very conditions that challenge renewable performance: icing, snow accumulation, short days, and variable winds. Yet these are also the moments when electricity matters most – when families depend on electricity for heat, hospitals and nursing homes require uninterrupted power, and businesses rely on stable service.
The risk for Rhode Island lies not in pursuing climate goals, but in pursuing them without acknowledging physical and operational constraints. Policies that assume electricity will always be available when needed – regardless of temperature, fuel availability, or system stress – invite higher costs, emergency interventions, and increased risk of blackouts.
If New England continues to discourage investment in firm generation or accelerates the retirement of dispatchable resources without reliable replacements, the result will not be a cleaner grid – it will be a more fragile one.
Base load availability must not be an afterthought. It is the foundation that keeps the lights on when the weather is at its worst, and the stakes are highest. We should be seeking ways to support and expand that generation, including unlocking the potential for utility investment. This winter is a reminder that energy policy is ultimately governed by physics, not preferences. Rhode Island must heed that lesson before it is too late.
Greg Cornett is president of Rhode Island Energy.
Contrary to the opinion expressed by Greg Cornett, President of RI Energy, on Feb 8, Extreme winter weather shows limits of renewable energy, experts interviewed in Canary Media on Feb 12, Offshore wind showed up big during the East Coast’s brutal cold, show that offshore wind was a reliable and cost-effective energy source during the cold snap.
Early data demonstrate how America’s offshore wind farms helped keep electricity flowing during the extreme-weather stretch. The farms performed as well as gas power plants and better than coal even though 18 of Vineyard Wind’s 62 turbines are still to be built. Moreover, the energy supplied cost markedly less than spot wholesale prices during the storm.
Katie Dykes, Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said, “Variable resources like wind and solar, when they’re operating during these cold weather periods, they’re actually helping to keep a lid on prices. It means we can reduce the runtimes of those more expensive oil units.”
Gary Stephenson, a senior vice president for the Long Island Power Authority said about the region’s cold snap, “The last few weeks have been extremely stressful.” The municipal utility purchases power from South Fork Wind and will connect its grid to Sunrise Wind in 2027. “I really wish we had that Sunrise facility online. That would have taken so much pressure off the natural gas system”.