PROVIDENCE — Five years after lawmakers passed the state’s first firm climate mandates, the historic Act on Climate law is in danger of getting rolled back by the same governor who signed it.

Rhode Island’s environmental groups have already spent much of this year’s General Assembly session on defense, ever since Gov. Dan McKee rolled out his budget last month that slashed and capped various renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.

The governor’s message was a simple one: affordability. Electric and gas bills had climbed to historic highs and the state needed to do everything it could to rein in some of the environmental programs funded by utility charges.

But state environmental groups have contended the cuts will throw out the baby with the bathwater. They say such programs are needed to boost the development of solar energy in Rhode Island, cut down on residential and business energy usage, and in the long run the programs save the state money.

“We have a crazy idea, and it’s that climate response, climate responsibility, and affordability are not in conflict,” Rep. Lauren Carson, D-Newport, said at a Feb. 11 rally at the Statehouse to preserve the environmental programs. “Clean energy can actually lower costs over time. We must pursue policies that are both ambitious and just, policies that accelerate decarbonization and protect the everyday consumer.”

Pushing back the renewable energy standard and reducing the budgets of energy efficiency programs and net metering would have long-term costs not accounted for in the governor’s budget, environmental groups said. The state’s net metering program requires electric distribution companies to credit power produced by renewable energy systems installed behind a customer meter.

Emily Koo, Rhode Island director at the Acadia Center, said energy efficiency programs help Rhode Islanders use the cheapest electricity — the electricity they don’t use.

“Energy efficiency directly lowers bills, and by reducing demand, suppresses prices across the region,” Koo said. “By putting the blame on state mandates and taxes, the governor’s budget ignores the benefits of clean energy and the primary drivers of energy costs.”

Energy costs haven’t returned to the average seen prior to 2022, when the state Public Utilities Commission authorized a 47% hike in electric rates. Last resort service rates, the default electricity plan in Rhode Island, charges 14.77 cents per kilowatt-hour, 40% higher than five years ago.

Most of that cost comes from natural gas prices, because while the United States is producing and exporting more natural gas than ever, locally the price in New England is not coming down. The 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project, in comparison, has its prices locked in for a 20-year contract at 9.84 cents per kilowatt-hour.

McKee’s budget proposes it will save ratepayers $1 billion in utility costs over the next five years by trimming many of the state programs that added costs to electric bills. Even by the administration’s own admission, however, that will only save ratepayers between $15 and $20 a month.

Labor groups are also organizing against McKee’s proposal. Joe Walsh, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers Local 99, said he believed the governor would ultimately roll back many of the proposals and that he had made decisions without having enough information. Rhode Island ranks 45^th in the U.S. in electricity costs, a position that hasn’t moved in more than a decade.

“Today we have the fourth-highest electricity prices in the country, we all agree on that,” Walsh said. “Ten years ago, before net metering went into play, we still had the fourth-highest electricity rates in the country. I don’t see a correlation.”

The proposed cuts landed with a splash in the Senate Finance Committee, when lawmakers got their first chance to question state energy officials about the impact that cutting environmental programs and pushing back deadlines would have on the Act on Climate.

Finance committee hearings this time of year are usually almost sleepy affairs. Budget officials present sections of the governor’s budget to committee members, and department heads and other experts testify on what the impact the proposals will have.

Sen. Sam Zurier, D-Providence, however, repeatedly pressed Office of Energy Resources acting commissioner Chris Kearns about what impact McKee’s proposed cuts will have on the Act on Climate law.

“Would you agree extending the Renewable Energy Standard to 2050 is going to make [being able to meet the Act on Climate mandates] worse?” Zurier asked.

“I think the transportation emissions element alone is the most challenging piece of the Act on Climate law regardless of amendments to the Renewable Energy Standard,” Kearns said.

“You didn’t answer my question. Will the extension of the Renewable Energy Standard to 2050 make the chances of meeting the Act on Climate unlikely and worse?” Zurier said.

“Amendments to the RES will have an effect on electricity generation reductions under the Act on Climate law,” Kearns said. “But the transportation sector is still a significant component of the law.”

“Did the governor consider including an amendment to the Act on Climate if he concluded its successful implementation is impossible?” Zurier asked.

Kearns cited budget and regulatory rollbacks from the Act on Climate. The state government had been the recipient of millions of dollars in grants and other funding for climate work. State officials also relied on tying Rhode Island’s vehicle emission standards to California’s, which received a waiver under the Clean Air Act. California’s waiver was essentially voided by a Congressional vote, and by association so was Rhode Island’s.

Finance committee chair Sen. Louis DiPalma, D-Middletown, interrupted Kearns to end the questioning. “Senator, I think the answer is no,” DiPalma said. “The answer to Senator Zurier’s question is no, we’re not going to reach the mandates.”

“Based on the current landscape, I think we’re going to have some conversations on the current Act on Climate law and what it looks like in the future,” Kearns said.

Advocates, climate groups, and solar companies expressed skepticism in testimony after the hearing that the governor’s budget would reduce energy costs without sacrificing environmental mandates.

Nick Nybo, an attorney working for solar developer Revity Energy, told senators the governor’s changes to net metering would abolish the entire industry in Rhode Island without seeing reductions in electricity costs.

“This body and the governor can feed the Act on Climate into the woodchipper, it can feed renewable energy programs into the woodchipper, but in three years this body will be back here, the division will be back here, the utility company will be back here,” Nybo said. “The only difference is I won’t be back here because the solar industry will be gone. Whatever savings there are will be gone. The supply charges, the distribution charges will have swallowed them whole, and it’ll just be the utility company left to take the blame.”