{"id":424009,"date":"2026-01-31T14:26:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=424009"},"modified":"2026-01-31T14:26:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:26:57","slug":"poll-finds-new-england-women-feel-misled-about-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=424009","title":{"rendered":"Poll finds New England women feel misled about climate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
Standing woman wearing striped top glancing back on beach, floating environmental icons, copy space. Sustainability, renewable, ecofriendly, innovation, climate, conservation, energy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Gabriella Hoffman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to new polling<\/a> from Independent Women, 82% of New England women say they\u2019re paying more for their electricity bills, compared with five years ago. This is the first comprehensive poll exclusively asking women\u2014who primarily handle their household electricity bills\u2014their attitudes on energy issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New England has enacted the nation\u2019s most aggressive climate policies to phase out oil, gas, and coal and achieve a 100% renewable energy target by 2050. While it\u2019s easy to blame utility companies and the federal government for exacerbating the electricity crisis, state policies\u2014namely, New England\u2019s decarbonization plans\u2014bear more responsibility for inviting energy insecurity and associated higher costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress gave<\/a> 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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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%<\/a>\u2014the highest regional rates in the Lower-48. The average household paid $250.82<\/a> per month in utility bills as of last November\u2014up 50.5% from 2024, when the average regional bill was only $166.48 per month<\/a>. New England rates are 67% higher compared to the national average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> 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<\/a> impact on carbon emissions reductions. It\u2019s no wonder that 53% of poll respondents admitted they feel misled by state politicians about the cost and effectiveness of 100% renewable energy policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Independent Women\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019 long regional policies that discouraged or blocked new natural gas infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natural gas is a reliable, clean-burning fuel that supplies<\/a> 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<\/a> to deliver natural gas to New England states by 2027. A new report warned<\/a> that a lack of new natural gas capacity will stress New England\u2019s energy infrastructure and could invite \u201celectricity reliability challenges\u201d ahead of Winter Storm Fern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its strict green mandates, New England is still heavily reliant<\/a> on natural gas, nuclear energy, and electricity imports from Canada (9%)\u2014not renewables (12%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last fall, the CEO of ISO New England, the regional transmission organization overseeing the region\u2019s electric grid and transmission, warned that wind and solar aren\u2019t dependable sources during winter, remarking<\/a>: \u201cWe cannot operate the system in the wintertime without a dependable energy source that can balance the system when the sun doesn\u2019t shine and the wind doesn\u2019t blow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By continuing down its decarbonization path, New England, save for New Hampshire, would see energy costs spike $815 billion<\/a> through 2050 over the cost of operating the current grid. But there\u2019s a solution to the region\u2019s self-inflicted energy crisis. A new report by Always On Energy Research and a coalition of Northeastern think tanks, \u201cAlternatives to New England\u2019s Energy Affordability Crisis,\u201d <\/em>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<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019re disavowing the same climate pledges<\/a> that they previously championed. Conservatives, however, are uniquely positioned to appeal to women on energy issues, if they get this moment right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at Real Clear Energy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Winter Storm Fern wreaking havoc across the country, New England women are worried about energy affordability. 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