Clean Energy Saved Consumers 2+ Billion During Winter Storm Fern
A robust energy mix isn’t just about reliability—it’s about affordability when extreme weather hits and consumers need it most.
More than two thirds of the country were battered by plummeting temperatures, snow, ice and wind during Winter Storm Fern, driving power demand through the roof and power grids to their limit. While the grids avoided widespread outages in most of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, the storm clearly demonstrated which systems perform best under pressure: those built on a robust mix of energy resources.
Overall, clean energy saved the grid more than $2 billion during Winter Storm Fern. Wholesale electricity markets with significant wind, solar, and energy storage representation saw lower electricity prices than those without.
Even regions with modest clean power use saw substantial savings across electricity operating costs:
- In the PJM Interconnection (PJM), just a 5% share of wind and solar generation saved their grid $430 million. PJM serves 67 million customers across D.C., Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
- New York and New England (NYISO and ISONE) each saved over $60 million with about a 6% share of clean energy, serving a combined total of 27 million customers.
- In the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the Midwest saved over $1 billion with a 16% share of wind and solar energy, serving 45 million
customers. - In the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Texans saved over $200 million with a 24% share of wind, solar, and storage, serving 27 million customers.
- In the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the Great Plains grid saved roughly $400 million with a 31% share of wind and solar energy, serving 19 million people.
Resource updated 4/6/2026
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