Massachusetts is one of the most expensive places in the country for electricity, in the same ballpark with geographically isolated places like Alaska and Hawaii. And while state officials wrestle with two long-term solutions for bringing down the cost - tapping hydroelectric power from Canada and encouraging solar power - the easiest and quickest solution is to bring natural gas, through pipelines, to natural gas-fired power plants that now produce 49 percent of the region's power, according to ISO New England.