Beacon Hill Institute research economist Michael Head said he and his two co-authors were skeptical the cost caps outlined in legislation would kick in.

“We just left it out so we could provide the actual analysis of the policy itself,” Head said, adding that the central question is not whether renewable energy costs more but “the matter of degree. You’re certainly going to have these higher electricity prices. They will have profound negative consequences for the states’ economies.”

But Gabe Elsner, co-director of the public watchdog group Checks and Balances Project, said the legislation and economic reports amount to “a one-two punch against clean energy laws across the country” by fossil-fuel interests.

“You push the legislation to state legislators and then you fund reports to support the argument and convince state lawmakers,” Elsner said, “and all without any transparency or disclosure about the sources of this funding.”

David G. Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute and chair of Suffolk University’s economics department, said Koch funding did not determine the report’s conclusions about renewable energy.

Resch said despite the policy differences between the state legislators’ group and his industry, his group would maintain its membership.

“We’re committed to work with conservatives, and ALEC is a vehicle to do that,” he said.