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 consumers $2+Billion during Winter Storm Fern. And consumers living in regions that make use of all available energy sources – especially those with significant wind, solar, and energy storage – also saw lower costs.
Even regions with modest clean power use saw major savings:
- In PJM, 5% of wind and solar generation saved consumers $430 million. PJM serves 67 million customers in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Caroline, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
- New York and New England each saved over $60 million with about 7% clean energy. Serves 27 million customers combined.
- In MISO, the Mid-West saved over $1 billion with 16% of wind and solar energy. Serves 45 million customers.
- In ERCOT, Texans saved over $200 million with 25% of wind, solar, and storage. Serves 27 million customers.
- In SPP, Great Plains customers saved roughly $400 million with 30% wind and solar energy. Serves 19 million people.