Energy

The governors of five New England states will meet in a private working meeting Thursday on regional energy issues but plan to brief the media afterwards at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.

Utilities and Massachusetts energy officials hope to tap into renewable energy from the north while opening the spigot of cheap natural gas from the south and west, they told lawmakers Tuesday.

With one Midwestern hospital now operating off the grid, energy independence appears within reach for hospitals. Find out about the local push for renewables in our April 13 print article.

Massachusetts' use of solar power has been on a tear over the past few years. In 2007, developers, businesses and homeowners had installed less than 2 megawatts of photovoltaic capacity. But that doubled the next year, then the next, and the next.

Wind power has always had a blustery outlook in Massachusetts. With a dense population and lower wind speeds compared with flat-plain states, the Bay State was never going to become the Wind Farm State.

New York-based Soltas Energy Corp. has agreed to pay $330,000 over allegations it caused two Massachusetts towns and two nonprofit organizations to lose thousands of dollars in energy savings when it failed to honor agreements to sell them net metering credits, Attorney General Maura Healey said Thursday.

The gasoline price website GasBuddy said Thursday it expects the average price of gasoline across the nation to be about $2.35 a gallon during the summer driving season — Memorial Day through Labor Day.

February's severe cold kicked up prices for natural gas and wholesale power, the region's grid operator said Thursday.

The state will spend an additional $2 million in rebates to residents who buy or lease electric vehicles, the Baker administration announced last week.

Citing recent increases in electricity rates, the chairman of a House oversight committee plans to start digging into the reasons behind those higher prices.