According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), residential electricity prices have risen by 3.2 percent during the first 6 months of this year compared to the first 6 months of last year—the highest year-over-year growth in 5 years. But, the real story is that New England’s residential electricity prices have risen 11.8 percent over that period—the highest increase anywhere in the nation. That is because New England is shuttering low-cost coal and nuclear plants and replacing them with new natural gas plants and mandated renewable energy sources. Worse, New England has done this against a backdrop of in-sufficient pipeline capacity to feed all the demands on natural gas for heating, cooking, and electricity generation in the region as we saw during the Polar Vortex last year.
