Seven of the top ten ‘greenest states’ in the US also have the highest electric rates in the nation. Coincidence?
NH1 recently published a report by Wallet Hub ranking “how green states are” using a pile of different metrics. Let’s compare it to States with high residential electric rates to see how they stacked up.
“Most expensive” relates to the cost of residential electric rates.
| State | Most expensive | Green rank |
| Hawaii | 1 | 14 |
| Alaska | 2 | 37 |
| Massachusetts | 3 | 2 |
| Connecticut | 4 | 5 |
| Rhode Island | 5 | 10 |
| New Hampshire | 6 | 9 |
| California | 7 | 13 |
| New York | 8 | 8 |
| Vermont | 9 | 1 |
| Maine | 10 | 6 |
Here is how the ten least expensive states (based on the cost of residential electricity per kilowatt hour), scored on the Green team report.
| State | Least Expensive | Green Rank |
| Louisiana | 1 | 45 |
| North Dakota | 2 | 47 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 46 |
| Arkansas | 4 | 41 |
| Nebraska | 5 | 44 |
| Washington | 6 | 4 |
| Idaho | 7 | 34 |
| Missouri | 8 | 30 |
| Kentucky | 9 | 43 |
| South Dakota | 10 | 33 |
The least green state according to Wallet Hub was Wyoming which tied with Mississippi for the 14th lowest electric rates. Montana was 49th (13th cheapest), with West Virgina 48th least green (22nd for cost per KWH).
This is not meant to be scientific, more anecdotal. But I think we can see that with a few exceptions, the “green agenda,” like most progressive priorities, comes with a heavy price tag. And it sucks resources from those least able to afford them for priorities that (regardless of whether you trust or even believe) always seem to transfer wealth and power away from the people.
All prices based on Jan 2017 data from the Energy Information Administration.
