States either have dumb energy laws, or smart ones

[Elderberry]

WND By William Murray, Real Clear Wire June 7, 2026

"It was the best of energy policies; it was the worst of energy policies" – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. (Apocryphal)

Higher electricity prices and a lack of cheap energy are in the news. Even before the start of the Iran war, consumers over the winter of 2025-2026 experienced some of the highest energy prices on record, especially electricity consumers in the Northeast and New England.

A recent report by the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, America's largest voluntary membership organization for state legislators, shows the problem lies in local politics, not supply and demand. When it comes to electricity prices, there are two types of American states: those that manipulate electricity markets to the detriment of their citizens, and those that do not.

In 2024, the most recent year with reliable data, the average retail price of electricity nationwide was 13.69 cents per kilowatt-hour. Thirty-seven states average below that level, while the remaining 13 states are ahead in a race that no one should want to win.

Since 2021, ALEC has ranked the states in affordability from 1st to 50th.

The cheapest states for electricity – North Dakota at 7.93 cents (kWh), Louisiana at 8.80 cents (kWh) and Nebraska at 9.07 cents (kWh) – get the gold, silver and bronze medals for affordability in this year's rankings. All three are either natural gas-rich or import low-sulfur coal from neighboring states.

But low electricity prices aren't just a case of geological inheritance or lucky geography. Blue states like Washington, which placed 13th in the rankings, and Oregon, which placed 22nd, benefit from far-sighted 20th-century leadership that built out massive hydroelectric capacity along the Columbia and Snake River systems. Illinois ranks 31st, having benefited from the construction of 11 commercial nuclear reactors in the 1960s and 1970s. All three have average prices in the 10-, 11-, or 12-cent-per-kilowatt-hour range.

Meanwhile, all states to the north and east of New Jersey are disappointments. New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine have electricity prices well above the national average. Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island each have prices over 23 cents a kilowatt-hour. They're at the back of the pack.

More: https://www.wnd.com/2026/06/states-either-have-dumb-energy-laws-smart-ones/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

That's 3X the electricity rates in New England than what the lowest states have.

100% due to state regulations.

[DefiantMassRINO]

They closed the coal and nuclear plants.  They heralded natural gas as a "bridge" fuel to a clean energy future.

They pinned their hopes on adding sufficient supply from the Maine electric connector [New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC)], roof-top solar, and offshore wind.

Once the coal and nuke plants were closed, Methane became Public Enemy #1, and no new natural gas electric plants, pipelines, or LNG facilities were permitted.

In the Fall, home natural gas bills spike so high (because home heating competes with electricity generation for a constrained supply of natural gas) that the Governer had the utility companies amoritize the cost across the whole year to make it "more affordable".

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been screaming from the hilltops about the peril of New England's over reliance on a constrained natural gas supply, but nobody cared to listen.

Many of my neighbors burn wood (which is a dirty fuel) in the Winter to mitigate their oil, propane, and natural gas heating costs.

Our Dear Leaders made consensus Global Climate Change decisions, without public debate, that have doomed New England to have the highest energy costs in the country, though we are less than a day's drive away from the Marcellus Shale's natural gas supply.

This makes the region less economically competitive with other regions of the country.

The "affordability crisis" is 100% caused by NIMBY, Enviro-Commie, anti-growth state governments' policies.  The Government is the constraint preventing additional supply from coming online.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been screaming from the hilltops about the peril of New England's over reliance on a constrained natural gas supply, but nobody cared to listen.

Our Dear Leaders made consensus Global Climate Change decisions, without public debate, that have doomed New England to have the highest energy costs in the country, though we are less than a day's drive away from the Marcellus Shale's natural gas supply.

This makes the region less economically competitive with other regions of the country.

The "affordability crisis" is 100% caused by NIMBY, Enviro-Commie, anti-growth state governments' policies.  The Government is the constraint preventing additional supply from coming online.

It is even worse than you think.

Some of the thickest parts of the Marcellus underly neighboring New York State.  NY refuses to permit any drilling for what is the largest gas resources ever found in North America.

Like California which is similarly rich in petroleum resources, NY state purposely demands its citizens to pay more in electricity and taxes.

Here's how much revenue the neighboring state of Pennsylvania gets from petroleum extraction as it permits what NY will not. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAOILGASNGSP