September 4, 2025 (Augusta, ME) – New England electricity prices would have been 11% lower last winter if contracted offshore wind projects had been operational, according to a new study by Daymark Energy Advisors. Tens of millions of dollars in lower costs would have been reflected on the electricity bills of Maine households and businesses.
The report, which used real electricity market and meteorological data from December 2024-February 2025, adds to a host of other studies that show the Trump Administration’s restrictions on new clean energy supplies such an offshore wind and rooftop solar will lead to higher electricity prices for Maine households and businesses and do nothing to address energy affordability.
“Undermining clean energy development takes money out of the pockets of Maine people and keeps it flowing out of state to pay for expensive fossil fuel power,” said Jack Shapiro, Climate and Clean Energy Program Director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. “Building clean energy in our region is good for affordability, good for jobs and the economy, and critical for our climate and environment. The federal government shouldn’t stand in the way of this progress.”
The Daymark study modeled the impact of offshore wind generation during the winter months, which are the New England region’s most expensive energy season. It found that if operational this past winter, offshore wind (OSW) energy would have:
- Generated 3.6 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity—enough to power more than 567,000 homes for a year.
- Lowered energy prices by 11%, saving electricity customers across New England approximately 400 million dollars.
- Reduced fossil fuel use by 34 million MMBtu, cutting reliance on expensive natural gas, oil, and coal from outside the region.
- Avoided 1.8 million tons of CO₂ emissions, equivalent to removing nearly 400,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road for a year.
Even though the contracted offshore wind projects analyzed for the study are being constructed in ocean waters off Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the savings would flow to customers in Maine as well, because all New England states are connected through a regional electric grid.
The region’s reliance on expensive oil and gas is the primary contributor to the high energy prices facing Maine residents. Natural gas generates more than half of the electricity in the region. A recent ISO New England report highlighted that a 67% increase in the price of energy used for wholesale electricity production in New England between 2024 and 2025 was due to a 112% rise in the price of natural gas.
In advance of new standard offer electricity supply rates for Maine households and businesses being announced later this fall, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that natural gas prices will rise 22% by the end of the year, and by a third next year.
Homegrown clean energy is the most effective path toward more reliable, affordable energy. An analysis by NRCM’s clean energy expert Rebecca Schultz showed that solar installed on rooftops across the region helped reduce demand on the regional grid by as much as 22% during a recent heat wave, helping avoid rolling blackouts and buffer electricity customers from expensive peaker plants coming online.
