Sierra Club's Fossil-Fueled Rates

Authors

Bradley Cebulko, Collin Smith, Vassilisa Rubtsova

About this Report

Authored by Strategen Consulting, Inc. on behalf of Sierra Club, Fossil-Fueled Rates: How Gas Costs are Causing New England’s Electricity Price Spikes, and How Electrification Will Help Protect Customers in the Future reveals how spikes in the price of fossil gas are the cause of the dramatic rise in electricity rates for New England customers. The report highlights that the recent electricity price spikes in New England ultimately demonstrate the risks of continuing to depend on volatile commodities like fossil gas.

The electric sector in New England is heavily reliant on gas-fired generation and gas commodity costs are quickly passed on to customers in their electricity bills, causing the recent price spikes in the cost of electricity, while gas customers’ heating bills are generally only adjusted to reflect the cost of gas once or twice a year. Gas prices across the country rose around 62% year-over-year at the start of 2022, but the increase was closer to 400% in New England, due to the region’s overreliance on gas for power generation and heating, no regional source for gas, and increased global competition for gas due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.  

This report discusses how electrification can eliminate up to 100% of a customer’s direct gas demand and also highlights that the ongoing transition of New England’s electricity generation to clean energy resources ensures that electrification will be the most effective way to protect customers from fossil gas-driven price spikes in the future.

Suggested Citation

Cebulko, Brad, et al., Fossil Fueled Rates: How Gas Costs are Causing New England’s Electricity Price Spikes, and How Electrification Will Help Protect Customers in the Future, Strategen, February 2023.

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