A billion-dollar mistake: The case against slashing Mass Save

Like thousands of other Massachusetts residents, I’ve had my house audited for energy efficiency by professionals from Mass Save. I didn’t do everything they recommended, but over time I replaced all the leaky windows in my century-old house, insulated the attic, installed heat pumps, and added solar panels on the roof. My home is cozier in winter, I’ve saved a bundle in utility bills, and I’m doing my bit for the environment. And did I mention the audit was completely free?

Now some members of the Legislature want to slash the Mass Save program with a $1 billion cut in the House version of an energy affordability bill intended to offer residents relief from skyrocketing utility costs. That cut to the program’s current three-year, $4.5 billion budget would come after a $500 million cut the Department of Public Utilities made last year.

“We very rigorously track what we consider a benefit,” said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at the environmental nonprofit Acadia Center, who sits on the state’s Energy Efficiency Advisory Council, a Mass Save oversight body. Without the program, he said in an interview, the state’s energy demand would be 28 percent higher than it is.

To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.