With Winter Storm Fern wreaking havoc across the country, New England women are worried about energy affordability. Yet many do not connect rising energy costs to the state policy decisions that invited them.
According to new polling from Independent Women, 82% of New England women say they’re paying more for their electricity bills, compared with five years ago. This is the first comprehensive poll exclusively asking women—who primarily handle their household electricity bills—their attitudes on energy issues.
New England has enacted the nation’s most aggressive climate policies to phase out oil, gas, and coal and achieve a 100% renewable energy target by 2050. While it’s easy to blame utility companies and the federal government for exacerbating the electricity crisis, state policies—namely, New England’s decarbonization plans—bear more responsibility for inviting energy insecurity and associated higher costs.
Congress gave states near-exclusive power, under the Federal Power Act, to create electricity generation portfolios, determine electricity prices, and establish mandates for renewable energy generators. In the past 20 years, New England states adopted radical climate mandates to force a transition to 100% renewable energy, ban gas-powered cars, and adopt energy efficiency standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
In the last five years, costs have skyrocketed across all six New England states. Between 2019 and 2024, electricity prices across the region soared 29%—the highest regional rates in the Lower-48. The average household paid $250.82 per month in utility bills as of last November—up 50.5% from 2024, when the average regional bill was only $166.48 per month. New England rates are 67% higher compared to the national average.
New England states were early adopters of aggressive green mandates like renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). States with RPS report higher electricity rates compared to non-RPS states. All six New England states belong to RGGI, a cap-and-trade program that has a negligible impact on carbon emissions reductions. It’s no wonder that 53% of poll respondents admitted they feel misled by state politicians about the cost and effectiveness of 100% renewable energy policies.
Independent Women’s poll also found that New England women support reliable energy sources. A plurality of New England women (42%) support an electric grid powered by both conventional and renewable energy sources.
An overwhelming majority support expanding geothermal energy (68%) and natural gas (61%), a clean-burning fuel, in the region. Support for natural gas is encouraging, despite decades’ long regional policies that discouraged or blocked new natural gas infrastructure projects.
Natural gas is a reliable, clean-burning fuel that supplies the majority of net-electricity generation in the U.S., and in New England. The recently revived Constitution Pipeline, first approved in 2014 and cancelled in 2020, is expected to deliver natural gas to New England states by 2027. A new report warned that a lack of new natural gas capacity will stress New England’s energy infrastructure and could invite “electricity reliability challenges” ahead of Winter Storm Fern.
Despite its strict green mandates, New England is still heavily reliant on natural gas, nuclear energy, and electricity imports from Canada (9%)—not renewables (12%).
Last fall, the CEO of ISO New England, the regional transmission organization overseeing the region’s electric grid and transmission, warned that wind and solar aren’t dependable sources during winter, remarking: “We cannot operate the system in the wintertime without a dependable energy source that can balance the system when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.”
By continuing down its decarbonization path, New England, save for New Hampshire, would see energy costs spike $815 billion through 2050 over the cost of operating the current grid. But there’s a solution to the region’s self-inflicted energy crisis. A new report by Always On Energy Research and a coalition of Northeastern think tanks, “Alternatives to New England’s Energy Affordability Crisis,”argues that building natural gas and nuclear power, rather than costly, unreliable offshore wind and solar projects, will save New Englanders upwards of $700 billion in energy costs.
New England women overwhelmingly respond positively to affordable, reliable, and scalable messaging. But the poll also finds they currently trust elected Democrats on affordability issues. Democrats know they have to deliver, which is why they’re disavowing the same climate pledges that they previously championed. Conservatives, however, are uniquely positioned to appeal to women on energy issues, if they get this moment right.
Due to deregulation and abundance policies, energy inflation is down nationally. For electricity prices to decrease in New England, states must repeal expensive policies that solely push wind and solar at the expense of reliable, affordable energy sources.
Gabriella Hoffman is director of the Independent Women’s Center for Energy and Conservation. Follow her on X at @Gabby_Hoffman
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
When one has to run a household and feed a family, one’s gender makes little difference and he/she it is likely to become painfully aware of rising energy prices and rising prices in general. So they should examine the energy policies of their elected representatives and decide whether addressing living costs or the mythical climate crisis should take precedence.
Things are the same in Olde England…with that frisson of uncertainty that only a Socialist government can add…
I also feel misled about climate policies and I’m not even a woman! The lying and cheating is finally being seen for what it is. It is a bad thing. Lying and cheating is not okay.
The effort to silence people with integrity was, and remains, the worst aspect. That effort is now being fostered by the UN to create hate speech laws that imprison those who do not follow the gospel of the Climate Change™ religion.
The Stepford Wives redux, ‘life imitating art’.
You’ll probably get the same poll result in California if you asked about “climate policies” and gasoline prices. And you’ll also get the exact same result at the ballot box in November, so really nothing new here.
Exactly. They can’t even imagine not voting for Democrats and they go so far as to concoct a fantasy that this is actually the fault of Republicans.
Exactly^2. I haven’t seen a better example of cognitive dissonance since I stumbled into Psychology 101 as a gut course during undergrad.
Spare a thought for the Aussies who do not own a roof to put solar panels on. Retail prices rose 21% just in 2025.
Wholesale base load price in Australia bottomed in 2003 at $23/MWh as the positive impact of removing State monopolies in electricity transmission and distribution was established . Now with Federal and State governments using the grid in the vain hope of controlling the weather according to UN dictates, wholesale price for base load reached $92/MWh.
Which is always the poor and those who can least afford it. The inner city lefties are fine they are milking the system for all it’s got.
Poll Finds New England Women Feel Misled About Climate Policies
You don’t want to ask me about my “feelings” too?
No, you do not. (:
“Independent Women’s poll also found that New England women support … expanding geothermal energy (68%)”
PLUS
“Senior electrical engineers in the U.S. are predominantly male (93.7%) with an average age of 44, …”
EQUALS
May as well have polled the chess club about oatmeal brands. Maybe they know something, probably not. The demographics are changing, but not fast enough for that poll question.
Here’s the missing heat-
The hidden danger hitting Aussies after dark
We grew up without airconditioning and used to roll the mattresses out on groundsheets on the back lawn when it got hot like that in summer. Gen Eco we were and you tell that to Gen Pussy nowadays and you think they’ll believe you?
Four Yorkshiremen- Monty Python
Strike me pink no wonder it’s so flaming hot here!
Moscow records heaviest snowfall in more than 200 years, meteorologists say
The Commies are pinching all the refrigeration.
The article is focused on New England, it would be equally valid if the piece was entitled Old England because the issues and cost increases are identical.
As more of the cheaper renewable energy production is loaded onto the grid, the higher the price of electricity goes.
That fundamental now historically validated fact is true in every country of scale that has adopted renewable energy options onto their electricity grid.
The question is, if renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels and yet prices rise are the other benefits from renewable energy adoption showing up?
Let us take CO2. That was considered the focus of renewable energy adoption. The reduction of CO2 was its key advantage. Over the past thirty years the growth of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased steadily and uninterruptedly the growth of renewables has made no impact at all on that increasing CO2 target.
So the conclusion is. We have ever more expensive energy and continuing increase in CO2 by adopting renewable energy option. What is the point of renewable energy?
Wokeachusetts is a feminocracy- totally dominated by women. Most of the top state jobs are held by women. I bet there’s not a single unemployed lesbian in the state. 🙂
Yep.
As a long-time engineer (ME, EE, PE), I think I have a reasonable understanding of power, energy, and finance. None of this came from formal education. The ME terms for energy and power are totally useless. Calculations involve horsepower, gravity, ft-lbs. of both energy and torque, time, BTUs, ergs, Joules, etc., etc. This confusion ends when power is calculated in Watts, and energy in watt-Hours. Finance for me was learned quickly as soon as I got my first credit card. I learned after just a couple of months that payment in full each month was the only rational way of using a credit card, and that compound interest kills your finances when paying off debt.
it can ultimately make you rich when saving for retirement.
Unfortunately, few of these life lessons are taught adequately in most formal education, particularly the energy/power numbers. To me, energy should be calculated in terms of dollars per month of your electric bill. power in terms of number of lights you leave on at night, or the square feet of your TV monitors, and compound interest in terms of years to reach a million dollars in your 401K. Almost everyone would understand those numbers.
Maybe ask them where their other home is also and what media monolith they rely on for news. News and headline filtering is the great underestimated influence.