On January 15th, Governor McKee released his budget proposal backing away from several of the state’s core clean energy commitments. This budget is an attempt to pin the blame of high energy bills on renewables and clean energy, claiming rollbacks are necessary for relief. But gutting the 100% Renewable Energy Standard (RES) and long-term energy cost-reduction strategies is a short-sighted election ploy, and ignores foundational understandings of why these programs are in place.

 

These proposed changes to the budget would force us to remain dependent on burning imported fossil fuels—disincentivizing new clean energy sources to be built, devastating the local solar industry, and discouraging energy efficiency programs that save ratepayers millions of dollars. While his budget claims that these decisions are essential to make utility costs affordable, over this past week voices from labor, climate, the legislature and more have spoken up to dispel these claims and assert that it’s clean energy that is affordable, not fossil fuels.

Rhode Island’s Renewable Energy Standard (RES) is foundational to meeting our Act on Climate targets and stabilizing long-term energy prices. In 2024, natural gas fueled 87% of Rhode Island’s in-state electricity generation — the highest share of any state — and we import 100% of it. Supply and distribution costs make up more than 75% of winter electric bills but while pipeline capacity grows and gas use shrinks, those costs are still going up. But we absolutely control whether we remain dependent on a single imported fuel source or diversify our energy supply with homegrown renewables. Cutting the program that makes up only 3.5% of the bill to build up those renewables, while ignoring the elephant in the room—supply and distribution costs—shows McKee is putting the economic interests of RI Energy over the people of Rhode Island and our future.

 

The Renewable Energy Standard (RES) is the foundation of Rhode Island’s climate strategy. Electrification of cars and heating only works as a decarbonization strategy if our grid is powered by renewables! Delaying the RES to 2050 weakens that transition and falls directly into the fossil fuel industry’s playbook: push timelines further out and slow the shift to clean energy. Undermining energy efficiency at a time when our appetite for electricity is growing makes even less sense. The cheapest energy is the energy you don’t use. These programs have saved ratepayers millions of dollars and reduce system-wide energy demand — lowering bills while avoiding expensive new infrastructure.

Learn more:

• • Acadia Center — Fact Sheet Collection: Energy Cost Drivers
  • Acadia Center — Press Release Response to Severe Clean Energy Rollbacks in Governor McKee’s FY 2027 Budget Proposal (RI)
  • Future of Heat Initiative — Rising Gas Bills in RI Explainer

 

This past week was a serious week of action.

On Monday, Governor McKee signed an executive order at the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers doubling down on his false affordability narrative. We showed up to challenge the spurious claim that clean energy is driving high bills. Read more here. 

On Tuesday, the Rhode Island Senate Finance Committee heard testimony on the clean energy sections of the budget. Advocates, labor leaders, and community members spoke one after another in opposition to the rollbacks. Every single person who testified opposed the budget in its current form — except for Rhode Island Energy. You can watch the full recording here.

 

 

On Wednesday, we co-hosted a press event at the State House with Acadia Center, Clean Water Action, and Green Energy Consumers Alliance to reinforce a simple message: clean energy is affordable energy. You can read more about that here. You can see a PDF of the slides here. 

 

At a time when the federal government continues to retreat from climate leadership — the Trump administration’s EPA just rescinded the 2009 endangerment finding that classified greenhouse gases as harmful to Americans’ health and welfare—state-level action is more important than ever. This is not a time for us to bow out of the fight and give up, it’s a time to build community and local power and take action.