Gov. McKee is gaslighting Rhode Island energy consumers
By Bill Ibelle, Rhode Island Current
Right. It’s the elephant in the room that’s going to trample you, not the gerbil.
But the governor and our for-profit utility want you to pay attention to the gerbil, even though the real problem is our overdependence on natural gas.
Save now, pay later: Critics warn McKee’s plan to ease energy bills comes with a tab
Why?
The governor is in the fight of his political life and needs a quick fix to win back support. That’s why he wants to roll back state renewable and energy efficiency programs to save ratepayers money on their monthly bills. It doesn’t matter that his quick fix doesn’t fix anything. It just has to save you a few dollars this election year.
Rhode Island Energy backs the same short-sighted policies because it has a giant conflict of interest. As a for-profit utility, its duty to make profits for wealthy investors compromises its duty to ratepayers. The company isn’t allowed to make profits off the energy it sells to customers, so profits come from maintaining and extending leaky natural gas pipelines.
Rhode Island Energy will tell anyone who will listen that it’s for clean energy, but all you have to do is look at the company’s actions and you’ll know the score. The utility has opposed more clean energy legislation than any other entity in Rhode Island. Actions speak louder than words.
The biggest cause of skyrocketing energy bills is our over-reliance on natural gas. Consider this:
- The price of natural gas is going up fast, and that trend is projected to continue. Meanwhile, the price of clean energy has dropped steadily over the past decade. So which type of energy should we hitch our wagon to — the one that’s getting more expensive, or the one that’s getting cheaper?
- For every $1 ratepayers invest in clean energy and efficiency programs, we get back $3 in benefits, according to the state’s Energy Efficiency Council. Yet those are the programs the governor wants to cut — programs that provide a 300% return on your investment.
- The cheapest energy is the energy you don’t have to buy. That’s why efficiency programs are the best way to lower your energy bills. But the governor wants to cut these incentive programs. Never mind that you can reduce energy use by 15% by insulating your home, or that you can improve your heating efficiency two to four times by installing heat pumps.
Among the most misguided items in the governor’s budget is a new charge for solar projects to hook up to the grid, a proposal that will choke off future solar development and, because it’s retroactive, cause some existing solar fields to shut down. It will slam the door shut on solar development in the state.
If you’re not convinced yet, here’s another thing to consider: 100% of Rhode Island’s natural gas is imported from places like Texas, Pennsylvania, and Canada. That’s millions, possibly billions, of dollars flowing out of state each year to create jobs in faraway places. In contrast, solar, wind, heat pumps, and weatherization programs all create jobs right here in Rhode Island. As we increase our use of local energy, all the money that’s flowing to Texas, Pennsylvania, and Canada will stay in our own state economy.
As you can see, it’s absurd to claim that clean energy is the problem. Clinging to our over-dependence on gas will lock us all into an antiquated energy system that will cause energy bills to skyrocket for years to come. That’s why economic powerhouses like China, Europe, India, and Brazil are all moving to clean energy. It’s cheaper. It’s the future.
So the questions before us are simple:
Do we want to hitch our wagon to an energy source that is getting more expensive, or one that is getting cheaper?
Do we want to hitch our wagon to energy that’s clean, or new energy that’s dirty?
Do we want to hitch our wagon to the energy of the future, or the energy of the past?
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Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.
