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“That mismatch is becoming more consequential as … electricity consumption and peak demand to begin rising again.”
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Most of New England’s electricity still comes from natural gas, even as planned new projects are shifting toward renewables and battery storage.
After decades of spending on zero-carbon programs, New England still gets a slightly larger share of its electricity from planet-warming fuels than it did in 2000, according to a white paper from the Boston-based Fiscal Alliance Foundation, cited by the Hartford Courant.
Author Lisa Linowes says that reality — fossil fuels providing 55.4% of regional electric generation, up from 54.6% in 2000 — could leave consumers facing higher electric costs and tighter supply as policy moves away from natural gas.
Put another way, the main shift has been in which planet-warming fuels the region uses. Coal and oil have nearly disappeared from the six-state power mix, while natural gas has become New England’s dominant source of generation.
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The problem, the paper says, is that upcoming projects are moving in the opposite direction. In January 2016, natural gas accounted for nearly two-thirds of proposed new capacity, but by January 2026, it was gone from the pipeline, replaced by solar, wind, and batteries.
As many in the New England area have discovered, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. If you’re considering it, you can explore EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
The paper says the issue becomes more serious as electricity use and peak demand are expected to rise again. Its argument is that if the grid still depends heavily on gas while policy continues to discourage new gas investment, customers could pay more for a system that has not yet completed its transition.
One major factor, the paper says, is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate carbon-pricing program that requires fossil-fuel generators to buy emissions allowances. Allowance prices were about $13.49 in 2023 and had climbed to $35 by June 2026.
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Because gas often sets wholesale electricity prices in New England, ISO New England estimated that carbon-pricing programs added about $9 per megawatt-hour in 2025 and roughly $1.1 billion to regional energy costs.
Among its recommendations, the report says dependable existing resources should not be retired until replacements have shown they can be both reliable and affordable. It also calls for a review of whether current rules are forcing important energy sources off the system too quickly, and it says officials should weigh full-system expenses — including transmission, storage, and supporting infrastructure — before locking in major shifts.
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As the report put it, “New England therefore arrived at a striking mismatch: the existing system remains heavily dependent on natural gas, while the development pipeline has almost completely moved away from it. That mismatch is becoming more consequential as ISO-NE projects electricity consumption and peak demand to begin rising again.”
Natural gas sits at the center of many fights over electric bills in Massachusetts and well beyond. Each of these articles shows how fuel dependence, transition policy, and reliability concerns can end up raising costs for households.
• In California, ambitious heat pump plans are raising questions about whether household savings will materialize.
• In New Jersey, monthly electric bills could climb as lawmakers revisit support for nuclear power.
• In Texas, surging energy bills could follow federal incentive changes that utilities say reshape costs.
Across very different states, major energy decisions can hit household budgets long before a grid transition is complete. For Massachusetts readers, that broader pattern helps explain why the region’s gas dependence matters.
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