Latest news with #ElectricSectorModernizationPlans
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Healey energy bill gets bump from municipal officials
BOSTON (SHNS) – Local government officials got an earful from residents as energy bills soared this winter, and many of those municipalities echoed and amplified those concerns to state leaders. So when the governor's new energy affordability legislation came up at the Local Government Advisory Commission on Tuesday, local officials said they felt like they had been heard. 'It's really nice to see this on a front burner,' Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove said. She said her city and others this winter 'asked for [the state's] help and attention, and we are so grateful to see this energy affordability agenda and the legislation filed last month to help tackle these challenges.' In a push to save ratepayers $10 billion over a decade, Gov. Maura Healey filed legislation (H 4144) last month to eliminate or reduce energy bill charges, make nuts-and-bolts changes to electricity procurement and supply practices, impose reforms to the competitive electric supply industry, and allow Massachusetts to explore new nuclear energy technologies. The governor's focus on energy costs comes after a winter that saw energy bills rise sharply, exacerbating chronic cost-of-living pressures for Massachusetts residents and businesses that already pay some of the highest energy prices in the country. 'Municipalities deal with cost challenges just like our residents and businesses do,' Gove said. 'And we know we are at a moment where energy costs in particular are causing stress and concern for customers and ratepayers across the commonwealth.' Healey's office broadly detailed where it expects to find the at least $10 billion in savings over a 10-year period, identifying 'Getting Costs Off Bills' (about $6.9 billion in savings), 'Creating Accountability' ($2.5 billion), and 'Supporting the Customer' ($900 million) as main buckets of savings. The bill is now before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, which has not yet announced a hearing for it. The bill would require the Department of Public Utilities to review and reform all charges on energy bills, and establish a cap on month-to-month bill increases. It would allow Massachusetts to procure energy directly, which would eliminate fees the state pays utilities for entering into those contracts, and also seeks to reduce the value of net metering credits for new and large solar hookups or other facilities that transfer energy back to the grid in exchange for a bill credit. The governor's legislation seeks to phase out the Alternative Portfolio Standard program, which incentivizes technologies like natural-gas-fired combined heat and power facilities, fuel cells, biofuels, and heat pumps, by 2028. It also would grant utilities the ability to finance the Mass Save efficiency program, Electric Sector Modernization Plans, storm response, and other programs by issuing rate reduction bonds to securitize costs. After Executive Director of Energy Transformation Melissa Lavinson and Undersecretary of Energy Mike Judge walked through the bill, Acton Town Manager John Mangiaratti said he thinks process of linking new energy projects to the grid is an area in need of greater attention to help residents, businesses and municipalities. 'Here in Acton, we have a pretty cool energy coaching program where we have volunteers work with residents and businesses and help them navigate different ways to make clean energy choices in their buildings. We also have had a lot of success with clean energy projects, solar, for example. But the timelines that we're experiencing continues to be an obstacle that we'd like to try to find a way to overcome,' he said. 'When a project that we have planned out takes sometimes a year longer than we thought because of the interconnection delays, it really changes the finances and causes some savings that people, that the city or the town was counting on to not be there, and it disincentivizes communities from wanting to do these types of projects.' During her rundown of bill details, Lavinson talked about a part of the governor's legislation that would require utilities to provide 'flexible interconnection solutions,' which she said 'should help reduce customer costs and timelines to interconnect, and won't cost any other customers to do that.' Gove said she and other mayors support the state's desire to transition towards cleaner energy and emphasized Tuesday that cities and towns 'are simultaneously working towards our own individual climate and clean energy goals.' She mentioned her city's efforts to support electric vehicles, in keeping with its history as home to S.R. Bailey & Company, which built some of the first electric vehicles there from 1905 to 1916. 'We're grateful for your continued work to review existing policies and charges to lower lower costs for residents on the whole,' she said. 'Cities and towns are doing this work of addressing affordability every day, and know that the residents across the common a Commonwealth will appreciate the results of this larger statewide effort.' WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mass. Gov. Healey pitches energy plan to save $10B over 10 years
The winter heating season might be over, but Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey threw another log on the Legislature's fire with a sweeping and long-awaited energy efficiency bill. The plan, unveiled Tuesday in Leominster, would, among other things, eliminate or significantly reduce charges on energy bills. It also would open the door to new nuclear energy technologies and make nuts-and-bolts changes to electricity procurement and supply practices in an attempt to save ratepayers $10 billion over a decade. The legislation further would allow the state to directly procure its energy. That would eliminate the fees the state pays utilities for entering into those contracts. And it would 'explore cutting-edge nuclear technologies,' the governor's office said. It also seeks to reduce the value of net metering credits for new and large solar hookups or other facilities that transfer energy back to the grid in exchange for a bill credit. 'Massachusetts families and businesses can't afford big energy price spikes now, or in the future. This bill – along with our energy affordability agenda – gets costs off bills, saves people money, and adopts an all-of-the-above strategy to bring new energy into Massachusetts,' Healey said. The governor's bill would also require the Department of Public Utilities to review and reform all charges on energy bills, and establish a cap on month-to-month bill increases. The proposal comes months after Bay Staters saw their energy bills skyrocket, prompting the Arlington Democrat to authorize a $50 credit on April electricity bills, and a suite of executive actions designed to rein in costs. Healey's office identified three areas for savings over the next 10 years: 'Getting Costs Off Bills and Avoid Unnecessary Costs' (about $6.9 billion in savings), 'Creating Accountability' ($2.5 billion), and 'Supporting the Customer' ($900 million). Shifting to utilities the ability to finance the Mass Save efficiency program, Electric Sector Modernization Plans, storm response, and other programs through rate reduction bonds would lead to 'the ability to reduce ratepayer costs by up to $5 billion in the first 10 years,' Healey's office said. In dueling statements, forces on both sides of the issue weighed in. The pro-business Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance sharply criticized the proposal, arguing that it 'doubled down on the same costly alternative energy mandates.' 'That's not reform. That's a confession,' Paul Diego Craney, the organization's executive director, said in a statement. of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. 'This plan is political window dressing. Governor Healey is trying to calm public outrage over sky-high electric bills without making any of the tough decisions needed to actually lower them,' Craney continued, adding that the bill 'gives more power to the same bureaucrats [who] created this mess and asks ratepayers to trust them again. That's not vying for affordability — that's arrogance." Caitlin Peale Sloan, the vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation for Massachusetts, credited Healey for her actions, but said she still needed to take 'bolder steps' to rein in costs. Healey's plan 'introduces some no-nonsense reforms and promising ideas, particularly around removing outdated programs and creating new ways to make clean energy projects more accessible,' Peale Sloan said. 'However, to truly make energy affordable, the governor must take bolder steps to rein in excessive utility spending on costly infrastructure projects and corporate profits. Holding utilities accountable is essential—not just for climate progress, but for the financial well-being of Massachusetts families,' Peale Sloan said. South Coast lawmaker makes multi-limbed argument against octopus farming Is Worcester breaking Open Meeting Law by going virtual? What the AG's office says 'Internal discussions' involved putting Biden in wheelchair if reelected, new book claims Donald Trump takes credit for a 'new word' — a word first used in the 16th century Trump administration cuts another $450 million from Harvard Read the original article on MassLive.
