Yesterday, the Senate released highly-anticipated energy affordability legislation which has been a focus of our team for the last many months.
Governor Maura Healey first filed energy affordability legislation last year, which the House of Representatives debated and passed in February of this year.
Since then, my team and I have weighed in on too many iterations of the bill and policies to list them all here, but just to name a few, my team and I:
- Opposed the repeal of a law that requires a statewide ballot question prior to the construction of new nuclear energy facilities in Massachusetts;
- Supported efforts to protect Mass Save from cuts;
- Advocated to rein in excessive spending on the gas system; and
- Led work to shield constituents from unreasonable utility profits.
There are 14 billion reasons to like the bill coming to the Senate floor to be debated on Wednesday, July 1, including that it does NOT open the door to new nuclear power plants in Massachusetts and it does NOT gut MassSave — in addition to securing real and lasting savings (more than $14 billion over a decade) on constituents utility bills.
Of course, thanks to smart advocates, we have a few policies we’re still working to add via amendment.
Summaries of those amendments are below. We have also been working on amendments to regulate data center energy and water use, streamline solar interconnection, and we may file a few more before the Friday deadline!
Tune into the debate on July 1 here, and I’ll be sure to update you when the final gavel bangs. AND if you tune in, you’ll also be able to catch the passage of what’s known at the Dark Skies bill — which has been championed by constituents for years. I’m thrilled that it’s moving forward.
Summaries of (some) amendments we filed (this list is in process)
#1 – Protect Constituents From Unreasonable Utility Profits
Utilities in Massachusetts are allowed to earn profit rates (ROE) that are far higher than what national research says is necessary — sometimes 9.5–10%, when the real cost of attracting investment is closer to 7.9%. That small difference adds up fast and means hundreds of millions of dollars in extra costs on constituents’ utility bills.
This amendment directs the Department of Public Utilities to investigate these excessive profit margins and crack down on any ROE levels that overcharge ratepayers.
#3 – Facilitate Energy Siting in Municipalities
The 2024 energy siting and permitting law gives municipalities 12 months to decide on applications for small clean‑energy facilities and requires one Local Government Representative to manage that process. But many small towns don’t have staff to take on that role whenever an application comes in.
This amendment lets municipalities use the existing 53G consultant process — where the applicant pays for the necessary reviews and technical work. When a town hires a 53G consultant, the 12‑month timeline wouldn’t start until the contract is signed, ensuring municipalities have the capacity they need to do the job right.
#4 – Require transmission companies to participate in ISO-NE
This amendment would require all transmission companies in Massachusetts to participate in ISO‑NE. That change would let the Attorney General petition the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to eliminate the extra 0.5% “RTO adder” these companies currently collect just for participating voluntarily.
The adder was created about 20 years ago to encourage formation of regional transmission organizations, but ISO‑NE membership is now essential for transmission companies. The RTO adder has effectively become a needless bonus for utilities, with no benefit to ratepayers.
Ending the RTO adder could save Massachusetts consumers more than $10 million every year. Connecticut recently enacted a similar policy, and FERC has already approved ending the adder in multiple states.
#13 – Energy Storage Incentives Must Consider Environmental Impacts
This legislation gives the Department of Energy Resources the authority to develop a statewide energy storage incentive program and promulgate rules and regulations to implement the program that consider storage and system costs, federal and state incentives, cost parity for ratepayers, and environmental benefits, among other things.
This amendment requires that the regulations consider the environmental and social impacts of energy storage systems.
#14 – Avoid Environmental Impacts During Transmission Line Projects
The 2024 energy siting and permitting law took an “avoid, minimize, or if impacts cannot be avoided or minimized, mitigate” approach to environmental and land use impacts.
This legislation deals with transmission lines and this amendment proposes applying the 2024 avoid / minimize / mitigate standard to utility line-clearing projects.
As an aside, each session that I have served in the legislature we have passed sweeping legislation to make clean energy solutions affordable and available to constituents and to move Massachusetts away from fossil fuels.
And, each session, my team and I have successfully incorporated some of our priority bills into these larger, omnibus energy and climate bills, including:
- Establishing a net zero building code;
- Creating an electricity grid modernization council;
- Creating a council to reduce CO2 embodied in construction materials;
- Creating a statewide initiative for healthy soils;
- Incentivizing and prioritizing solar canopies;
- Incentivizing ground-mounted solar to be pollinator-friendly;
- Providing funding to help constituents intervene in energy siting decisions;
- Producing a framework for achieving green and healthy K-12 schools;
…and more.
You can expect the same kind of hustle with this legislation.
