Earlier this month, Gov. Dan McKee signed an executive order directing a review of the state’s net metering program, which requires utilities to credit homeowners and businesses for the excess renewable energy they produce.
To offset the costs of buying back such electricity, grid operators can raise overall energy prices. Costs for these net metering credits have tripled since 2021, according to Michael Dalo, a spokesperson for Rhode Island Energy, which provides electricity for 99% of the state. In 2024, the net metering program cost taxpayers approximately $110 million, Dalo wrote in an email to The Herald.
The program ensures that solar projects “can sell excess electricity back to the grid for a relatively high rate,” said Ben Butterworth, director of climate, energy and equity analysis at Acadia Center, a climate-focused non-profit.
McKee’s proposed change would “essentially destroy” the solar energy industry in the Ocean State, said Butterworth.
“It’s a serious concern,” he added. If it is no longer financially feasible to produce solar energy in Rhode Island, the industry would “essentially just pull out of the state.”
In the review of the net metering program, the state will consider adverse impacts on solar projects and evaluate methods for mitigating these effects.
McKee’s office did not reply to The Herald’s requests for comment.
“The biggest hardship I hear from Rhode Islanders right now is their growing energy bills,” McKee said in a press release.
As of 2026, Rhode Island’s residential energy prices are the fourth-highest in the nation, The Herald previously reported. According to Dalo, Rhode Islanders spent $3.3 billion on energy between 2014 and 2025.
About one quarter of the average Rhode Islander’s electricity bill is a product of state programs, such as net metering and taxes, according to McKee’s press release. These costs “have grown significantly in recent years,” Dalo added.
Rhode Island previously planned to transition all of its electricity to renewable sources by 2033, the most ambitious timeline in the country. The proposed budget would push that deadline to 2050.
In his executive order, McKee cited federal actions — such as President Donald Trump’s interference with offshore wind permitting and termination of clean energy tax credits — as justification for revisiting the state’s green energy policies.
These increases “directly undermine energy affordability and threaten progress toward emissions-reduction goals,” the executive order reads.
Other changes include a $75 million cap on ratepayer spending on energy efficiency programs and the elimination of bonuses to RIE in McKee’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027. These policies will save ratepayers $2.6 million annually.
Several green-energy advocacy groups have noted concerns with McKee’s changes to renewable energy policy.
Butterworth said the proposed $75 million cap on energy efficiency investment “leaves a lot of benefits on the table that could be achieved if you increase the spending of the program.”
Improving energy efficiency is one of “the most cost-effective ways to ensure comfort within a residence while reducing overall energy demand,” said Tina Munter, the R.I. policy advocate for the Green Energy Consumers Alliance. She added that these programs return $3 in benefits for every $1 invested.
Munter added that she believes decreasing investment in renewable energy sources will increase the state’s long-term reliance on natural gas, which is expensive and prone to shortages.
The proposed policy change means Rhode Islanders would be “paying more when we know there are safer and more affordable actions,” Emily Howe, the state director of environmental advocacy organization Clean Water Action Rhode Island, told The Herald.
“The cheapest megawatt of electricity you can buy is the one that you don’t buy,” Butterworth said. “Energy efficiency helps to lower the overall electric system costs by reducing demand.”
