By Bob Katzen
House 128-27, approved and sent to the Senate legislation that supporters said would result in over $9 billion in savings for utility ratepayers over the next ten years. The measure cuts roughly $1 billion from the Mass Save program’s marketing and administrative budgets; returns 70 percent of alternative compliance payments to ratepayers through mid-2029; expands clean energy procurement authority; eases political barriers to nuclear development by repealing a voter law that placed restrictions on it; and delays an offshore wind contracting deadline by two years to 2029.
“As residents across Massachusetts face sky-high heating bills amid another brutal winter, this legislation is proof of the House’s commitment to bringing costs down by cutting unnecessary spending, by putting money back in residents’ pockets and through energy diversification,” said House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy). “While the Trump Administration continues to attack clean energy projects on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, the House understands that energy diversification is the best tool that the commonwealth has to cut costs for ratepayers in the long term.”
“This legislation is one that takes a long-term look at our energy needs and focuses the conversation squarely on affordability for ratepayers,” said Rep. Aaron Michlewitz (D-Boston), Chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means. “While sustainability remains paramount, without a federal partner in Washington, the commonwealth finds itself in a difficult position. By making our energy infrastructure more transparent and more predictable, and by controlling costs, we can improve the lives of millions of our residents while at the same time bringing more energy onto the grid.”
“While there are some worthy provisions contained in this bill, it still falls far short of its stated goal to make energy costs more affordable and represents a missed opportunity to deliver real financial relief to the commonwealth’s residential and commercial ratepayers,” said House GOP Minority Leader Rep. Brad Jones (R-North Reading) who voted against the proposal. “The House Republican Caucus offered nearly three dozen amendments that would have provided meaningful short and long-term assistance to those individuals and businesses who are struggling to pay their utility bills. Unfortunately, most of those amendments were rejected, so I could not support the underlying bill in its current form.”
“Beacon Hill is now admitting that $1 billion in Mass Save spending was unnecessary and that ratepayers were funding bloated marketing and administrative costs,” said Paul Craney, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “Lawmakers approved this billion-dollar spending year after year, and families are only hearing about ‘inefficiencies’ after their electric bills reached record highs. That is not oversight. That is damage control.”
Craney continued, “Expanding procurement authority, codifying subsidy programs like SMART and creating new energy storage incentives is just expanding on the same approach that helped create this affordability crisis in the first place. These programs guarantee above-market compensation backed by ratepayers. Without repealing the upcoming 2030 climate emissions reduction mandate, this bill will be doing nothing but smoothing out the sticker shock while locking in the structural drivers of high energy costs.”
A “Yes” vote is for the bill. A “No” vote against it.)
Rep. Christine Barber Yes Rep. Mike Connolly No Rep. Paul Donato Yes Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven No