Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee

I think energy costs are right at the top of the list.

Yeah.

And this year, I, I really could use some help, uh, supporting, uh, you know, uh, strategies and policies that can contain or lower the cost.

I had a billion dollars of savings on the, on the, on the, on my budget, uh, and the, uh, you know, the real strong lobbying efforts from the, from the, uh, Climate, uh, um, Act people, uh, outweighed, uh, s- we got about half the load.

But that, that-- we have Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland all responding to the fact that the changes that are coming our way from Washington on energy policy ha- really should be forcing us to reset, uh, our goals so that we're not putting a heavy burden on our ratepayers, and that includes our small businesses, Dave.

Right.

I, I mean, you know, energy costs has certainly been a number one issue for a lot of our small businesses.

Uh, you know, a- and it's, and it's, it's a balancing act.

I mean, we're, we're recording this, uh, end of June.

It's gonna come out in a, in a few weeks.

But we're about to have a, a major heatwave here, which I think will affect, uh, a lot of things, uh, going on.

And that, you know, can be climate related.

There's, there's a l- you know, a lot to it.

Um, but, uh, certainly the climate change has affected these small businesses, especially along the coast and things of that nature.

Where do you see, uh, energy costs and, and green energy and things of that nature, uh, helping small businesses? Because some of these green energy businesses are new.

They're small businesses as well.

Well, they are, uh, but that, you know, the whole net metering issue, Dave, was a pilot program- And it's run its course.

And so we're not trying to go backwards to impact any of the businesses or anybody that's benefiting from the net metering.

But going forward, we need to reset that, and we need to reset the goals and move them back up, you know, from 2030 up to 2050, 2040, we even will go there.

But, um, but people should know that the solar projects that are, they're involved in net metering are bringing kilowatt costs to the ratepayer of somewhere in the low 20s, 22 cents, 24 cents a kilowatt.

We're paying on average around 10 cents a kilowatt when you, when you blend both the s- the winter and the, uh, spring rates.

Right.

We need to really change course.

I was told today that the General Assembly in, in Massachusetts is actually looking at a reset in terms of their requirement to purchase into renewables, and that's gonna save, uh, the, their ratepayers money.

We need to get past that.

I think energy costs are right at the top of the list.

Yeah.

And this year, I, I really could use some help, uh, supporting, uh, you know, uh, strategies and policies that can contain or lower the cost.

I had a billion dollars of savings on the, on the, on the, on my budget, uh, and the, uh, you know, the real strong lobbying efforts from the, from the, uh, Climate, uh, um, Act people, uh, outweighed, uh, s- we got about half the load.

But that, that-- we have Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland all responding to the fact that the changes that are coming our way from Washington on energy policy ha- really should be forcing us to reset, uh, our goals so that we're not putting a heavy burden on our ratepayers, and that includes our small businesses, Dave.

Right.

I, I mean, you know, energy costs has certainly been a number one issue for a lot of our small businesses.

Uh, you know, a- and it's, and it's, it's a balancing act.

I mean, we're, we're recording this, uh, end of June.

It's gonna come out in a, in a few weeks.

But we're about to have a, a major heatwave here, which I think will affect, uh, a lot of things, uh, going on.

And that, you know, can be climate related.

There's, there's a l- you know, a lot to it.

Um, but, uh, certainly the climate change has affected these small businesses, especially along the coast and things of that nature.

Where do you see, uh, energy costs and, and green energy and things of that nature, uh, helping small businesses? Because some of these green energy businesses are new.

They're small businesses as well.

Well, they are, uh, but that, you know, the whole net metering issue, Dave, was a pilot program- And it's run its course.

And so we're not trying to go backwards to impact any of the businesses or anybody that's benefiting from the net metering.

But going forward, we need to reset that, and we need to reset the goals and move them back up, you know, from 2030 up to 2050, 2040, we even will go there.

But, um, but people should know that the solar projects that are, they're involved in net metering are bringing kilowatt costs to the ratepayer of somewhere in the low 20s, 22 cents, 24 cents a kilowatt.

We're paying on average around 10 cents a kilowatt when you, when you blend both the s- the winter and the, uh, spring rates.

Right.

We need to really change course.

I was told today that the General Assembly in, in Massachusetts is actually looking at a reset in terms of their requirement to purchase into renewables, and that's gonna save, uh, the, their ratepayers money.

We need to get past that.