The winter of 2025/2026 was the region’s coldest in 20 years with two major storms and hundreds of thousands of power outages, but the infrastructure came through with a boost from oil-powered generation.
ISO New England reports that extensive preparation and collaboration helped keep New England’s power grid reliable throughout its most challenging winter in nearly a decade. Winter Storm Fern brought a lot more snow than we usually get and the sub-freezing temperatures seemed endless.
During an outbreak of arctic air from January 23 to February 10, temperatures in the region averaged about 15°F — 11°F below normal. Demand for electricity was elevated throughout the 19-day period, both in peak demand and overall consumption. New Englanders consumed about 7,669 gigawatt-hours of electricity during this time. Peak demand for the winter occurred on the afternoon of January 25. At 20,182 megawatts, the peak was slightly above ISO’s pre-winter forecast for normal conditions.
On February 23, a second major winter storm, Hernando, resulted in approximately 350,000 customer outages at the distribution level, but did not affect the reliability of the transmission system coordinated by ISO New England.
New Transmission Line
Over the past few years, ISO New England has relied less on Canada for electricity.
On January 16, the New England Clean Energy Connect, a 1,200-megawatt transmission line project, began commercial operation. The new high-voltage direct current transmission line is primarily intended to increase the amount of hydroelectric power exported from Canada to New England. As the transmission line began commercial operation, net electricity imports to ISO-NE increased for several days.
However, starting on the weekend of January 24, an arctic cold front covered large portions of the United States and Canada, resulting in extreme cold conditions in New England and Eastern Canada. From January 24 to January 26, power flows on NECEC stopped and largely remained offline as Quebec limited electricity exports to meet domestic demand.
Feeling The Strain
To maximize the availability of generation during the cold weather conditions, the ISO requested and received an order from the US Department of Energy (DOE) under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act. The order ensured that all available power resources in New England, including those subject to emissions or other permit limitations, would be able to operate when they otherwise might not be able to. The order was in effect from January 25 to February 14.
ISO noted that they recognized the importance of environmental permit limits and did not make the request lightly. However, the prolonged nature of the cold weather made the order necessary to ensure power system reliability while the power grid was under strain.
Oil-Fired Generation
“ISO New England chooses resources to produce just the right amount of electricity to meet the region’s demand, but we also choose the least expensive resources available to meet that demand,” ISO-NE spokesperson Randy Burlingame said. “Demand for natural gas can go up during cold weather as folks use it to heat their homes, resulting in oil being a more economical option during that time.”
Oil-fired generation led the ISO New England fuel mix during the January winter storm that was driving up heating demand and power prices as temperatures dropped.
New England typically gets about half its electricity from natural-gas-fired generators. But the region’s natural gas pipeline system is contracted primarily to serve home and business heating needs first. Demand on the gas system was elevated throughout the event. High demand, coupled with limited capacity to transport gas into New England, prompted high prices. As a result, many generators turned to oil as a more economical alternative.
“Although petroleum accounts for less than 1 percent of total US utility-scale electric power generation, regions such as New England rely on oil-fired units during winter periods when cold weather creates high demand,” the EIA said in a statement.
Meanwhile, heavy snowfall from Winter Storm Fern on Jan. 25 affected delivery logistics for fuel oil and related products up and down the East Coast, creating bottlenecks as generators across the Northeast competed for fuel.
Neighboring regions experienced extreme cold and its related effects at the same time, limiting the availability of electricity imports into New England. Imports averaged about 2,400 megawatts per hour over the 19 days.
Solar
Winter Storm Fern also had a major impact on solar resources. Persistent sub-freezing temperatures meant many solar panels remained covered by snow until early February. Behind-the-meter photovoltaics can significantly reduce demand for grid electricity when they are not covered with snow and the sun is shining. But during the cold snap, they produced only 41 percent of their potential, based on daily forecasts assuming there was no snow but factoring in cloud cover.
Just A Cold Winter Overall
The winter of 2025/2026 was the region’s coldest in 20 years, with the average temperature 3.4°F below normal. Total winter energy demand was the highest in 11 years.
Energy market transactions for December, January, and February totaled about $6 billion — the highest of any winter since the wholesale markets were instituted in 2003.
Bringing some relief to the ratepayers, on January 22, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced that Massachusetts customers would see that their February and March electric bills were reduced by 25 percent and gas by 10 percent.
Ed and Kelly Burke are respectively Chairman of the Board and Senior Marketing Manager at fuel distributor Dennis K. Burke Inc. They can be reached at 617-884-7800 or ed.burke@burkeoil.com and kelly.burke@burkeoil.com.
