Truth To Power: Speaking Out Against Dangerous Energy Misinformation
Clean energy makes society better. It’s affordable. It’s healthy. It creates good-paying jobs and choices for consumers. And that’s the truth.
Electricity and the grid
Watch Out For Disinformation About Offshore Wind
Climate change is the greatest threat to natural landscapes, marine ecosystems, and fishing industries in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Narragansett Bay has already warmed by nearly 3°F since 1960. Sea levels off the coast of Newport have risen 10 inches since 1930, and projections show they could rise as much as 9 feet in the next 75 years. These changes will drastically alter the fishing industry and the economy. Offshore wind is one of the most powerful tools we have to safeguard these vital resources.
Predatory Electricity Suppliers are Causing Real Pain to Consumers
Back in the late 1990s, Massachusetts decided to allow companies, called third-party suppliers, to sell electricity directly to consumers. The theory was that free-market competition would drive down electricity rates as well-informed consumers efficiently made decisions. After a quarter century of allowing these third-party electric suppliers to sell electricity in Massachusetts, we know this hasn’t worked as planned for residential customers.
Watch for Gross Misinformation on Rhode Island’s Clean Energy Costs
On March 10th, the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission held a public hearing on electricity rates. The hearing was picked up by several news outlets and some excerpts from the news coverage were disseminated through social media. We heard one thing that we suspected was wildly incorrect. While covering this hearing, John Perik of NBC 10 News stated that “clean energy costs” on the electric bill were going to rise 43%, and it implied that those charges were the main reason that electricity delivery charges were going up. We will explain why the implications in that statement are incorrect.
Listen Up! Our Green Energy Podcast Is Finally Here
We are excited to launch the Consumers for Climate Podcast, now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music! This podcast reflects our mission to empower consumers and communities to make energy choices that speed a just transition to a zero-carbon world.
Massachusetts Electricity Rate Reform is Heading in the Right Direction
Back in May, several Massachusetts state agencies came together to form an Interagency Rates Working Group (IRWG) to advance near- and long-term electric rate designs that align with the Commonwealth’s decarbonization goals by prioritizing the reduction of energy burden while incentivizing transportation and building electrification. That statement of purpose is a mouthful but it succeeds at crystalizing the general consensus on Massachusetts energy policy goals among state officials and many advocates, including Green Energy Consumers Alliance — which is, how can we pay for energy in a way that keeps energy affordable for everyone and encourages getting off of fossil fuels?
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Incorrigible Greenwashing Electricity Suppliers Must Go
Almost exactly a year ago, I reported about a direct mail solicitation received from one of those retail electricity suppliers. Let’s call the company “Greenwashing Energy Choice.” Since then, that same company has been sending me similar pitches.
Closing the Spark Gap is Key to Electrification
Meeting climate goals anywhere, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, depends upon electrifying everything – cars, space heating, water heating, stoves, and clothes dryers. Combustion has to be phased out. Federal and state purchase incentives for many of those items help level the playing field on an up-front cost basis. However, they do not address operating costs. To meet our climate goals, we must reduce the ratio of prices for electricity versus prices for fossil fuels – the Spark Gap.
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The High Cost of Saying NO to Offshore Wind
If you’re a New Englander concerned about climate change, you’re likely anxiously awaiting the results of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island’s joint offshore wind solicitation. With recent supply chain and economic constraints causing project costs to rise, the three states issued a joint solicitation to allow developers to bid on larger projects and access economies of scale in October of 2023. They received the following proposals in March of this year.
Data Shows: Retail Electricity Suppliers Love to Greenwash
If there's one thing we hate at Green Energy Consumers Alliance, it’s greenwashing. This is the practice of exaggerating or lying about the worthiness of a good or service with respect to environmental impact. Our organization exists to help people find their way to economically and environmentally sound energy solutions. So, it breaks our hearts when we see some companies take advantage of the fact that it’s often easy to make a product sound better than it is. Case in point: Renewable energy in the electricity market.