My First Press Conference

How New England's environmental policies will lead to higher costs and rolling blackouts

On Nov. 19, I had the privilege of representing Yankee Institute (my employer) and others from national and New England organizations to discuss a new study: The Staggering Costs of New England’s Green Energy Policies. In summary, the report warns that ISO-New England — an independent, not-for-profit corporation responsible for keeping electricity flowing across the six New England states — will not be able to handle the environmental, decarbonization efforts the regions’ governments have set, which will not only lead to higher energy costs, but unreliable service (i.e., rolling blackouts).

Below is my statement. Watch the full press conference here.

---

Hello, my name is Andy Fowler, I am the communications specialist at Yankee Institute, Connecticut’s premier free-market, limited government public policy organization.  

I’d like to thank those who are attending and thank my friends across New England and national organizations, for coming together to address what type of future we want for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.  

This study, The Staggering Costs of New England’s Green Energy Policies, clearly demonstrates that going green, and adhering to decarbonization policies, will not make us better off. For some, the power going out could be a minor inconvenience; for others, this is life altering and even a life-threatening scenario.  

Connecticut already endures one of the highest electricity rates in the nation. Just this past summer, our state’s residents and businesses experienced a large spike in rates due to an increase in the Public Benefits Charge, which passes along to consumers the costs of government mandates imposed on power companies for a variety of state energy policies, including green, renewable energy.  

This is what life is like even before Connecticut has made the complete switch to green, renewable energy — but we already see that the state’s environmental policies imposed on our residents have dramatically made our lives more financially insecure and stressful.  

Yet Connecticut wants to be 100 percent carbon-free within a few decades.  

Again, we need to identify the costs and even need to ask, does this make our lives better? In short, no. As already mentioned, Connecticut families and businesses would see their electric bills increase by hundreds and thousands of dollars, respectively.  

This will only have a ripple effect, driving up the costs of everything people buy at the store.  

Certainly, a clean environment is an important and worthy goal, but New England is responsible for less than 0.4% of global emissions. What’s worse is that, if we switched 100% to renewable energies and spend hundreds of billions of dollars to do so, residents will become less likely to be able to turn on their lights, or charge their phones, watch TV, power their appliances and so much more that makes this the best of times in human history. Instead, they can expect more rolling blackouts.  

For context, nearly 90% of Connecticut households rely on electricity for heat during the cold winter months. For rolling blackouts to become a possibility in the future is a future we should want to avoid. 

There has been some encouraging news recently. Gov. Ned Lamont recently took an electric vehicle mandate off the table, which we applaud him for, and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (or PURA), which regulates rates, voted to deny a rate increase just yesterday. 

However, the Connecticut General Assembly is possibly considering extreme environmental regulations like the so-called “Green Monster” bill and even a “Green” Amendment. If enacted, these detrimental policies will not only make us poorer, but also leave us in the literal dark. It is time for a sensible energy policy — one that balances prudent environmental stewardship with economic productivity and prosperity. 

We hope lawmakers take heed of the policy solutions this new study proposes.