Connecticut says Revolution Wind will cut New England’s wholesale power costs by about $500 million a year

Connecticut officials say Revolution Wind will lower wholesale electricity costs across New England by about $500 million a year once the offshore project is fully running. The number comes from the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which expects the savings to reach that level by 2028, and state leaders put it back in front of the public on October 14 after the federal government moved to reopen the project’s approval.

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It is an estimate, not a bill credit. The figure measures what regional wholesale markets would cost with the wind farm in them versus without it, and the department labels it preliminary.

DEEP’s $500 million wholesale estimate

The department published its analysis on September 9, 2025, after a federal stop-work order halted construction. In its preliminary cost estimates, the agency wrote that by 2028 the wholesale market savings are estimated to reach roughly $500 million a year. The sum rests on two parts: more than $200 million a year in lower energy-market costs, starting in 2026 once the project is online, and $300 million to $400 million a year in lower capacity-market costs, starting around 2028.

The department’s own caveats are substantial. Results could be higher or lower depending on load growth, natural gas prices and other factors, the capacity estimate depends on proposed reforms to how ISO New England credits resources, and the page offers no year-by-year breakdown or description of the modeling tools. The department also assumes replacement capacity is unlikely to arrive before the early 2030s, which is why it expects higher capacity costs to persist for several years if the project were lost.

A 304 MW Connecticut contract at $99 a megawatt-hour

Connecticut is a buyer, not just an observer, and the project is large relative to the regional system: the department calls it a 704 MW farm that would supply about 350,000 homes, or 2.5% of the region’s electricity supply. Its utilities hold a 304 MW share of the farm’s output, a figure that Offshore Wind Biz confirms alongside 400 MW going to Rhode Island. According to the department’s September 2025 news release, the contract runs 20 years at a blended $99 per megawatt-hour for energy and renewable attributes, and it is projected to save Connecticut ratepayers $150 million to $200 million in public benefits charges over its life.

Electrek, whose detailed October 14 report carried the $500 million figure forward, describes the power sales as fixed-price, 20-year agreements with utilities in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The cost of cancellation and the fight over the approval

The department framed the same number from the other direction in 2025, estimating that cancelling the project would raise New England energy market costs by about $500 million a year in the near term, with Connecticut ratepayers carrying 25% of that. Katie Dykes, the department’s commissioner, said then, “While these are estimates, the magnitude of these potential impacts is concerning,” and added that the stop-work action would also make the state’s electric grid less reliable.

The department argued that offshore wind output during winter peaks, when natural gas supply is constrained, is central to the reliability case, and it noted roughly 1,200 jobs in Connecticut and Rhode Island tied to the project, along with $200 million of state money and $100 million from developers invested at the New London State Pier. The release also quotes ISO New England as saying that delaying the project “will increase risks to reliability.”

The October 9 federal filing is narrower than a cancellation. As the CT Mirror reported, Interior asked a court to send its construction and operations plan approval back to the agency for review under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and the filing does not itself stop the turbines. Connecticut’s leaders nonetheless treated it as a threat to the savings.

Attorney General William Tong responded, “This makes zero sense,” and said the state is prepared to return to court to defend the project. Governor Ned Lamont, according to Electrek, said the action contradicts the administration’s stated support for permitting reform, and that Connecticut is reviewing options with Ørsted and the attorney general’s office.

What remains unproven

Two things separate the $500 million from a settled fact. The project has to finish commissioning, and the department has so far published the estimate as a preliminary range of its own modeling rather than as an audited result. Electrek reports that full commercial operation is expected later in 2026, which would put the project in service well ahead of 2028, the year the department expects the capacity savings to arrive.

Whether ratepayers ever see $500 million a year on their bills will depend on market conditions and on the court case, which Judge Royce Lamberth has not yet decided. Until then, the figure is best read as Connecticut’s case for keeping the farm running, stated in dollars.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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