Raab Associates’ Restructuring Roundtable Looks Back on 30 Years

BOSTON — Raab Associates held its final New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable on Dec. 5, bringing reflections from speakers about the legacy of restructuring and the future of the power sector in the region.

Dan Sosland, president and co-founder of the Acadia Center, said the Roundtable has been somewhat unique among power industry events for its inclusion of climate and environmental perspectives.

“At the Roundtable we were co-equals,” Sosland said. “We were included, and that’s a testament to” Raab Associates President and Roundtable convenor Jonathan Raab.

While most demand growth projections forecast peak demand to roughly double by 2050, “I don’t think these have to be written in stone,” said Jamie Dickerson, senior director of energy and climate programs at Acadia. He pointed to a Brattle Group study indicating that grid flexibility could reduce New York’s 2040 winter peak by about 21%. (See Study Finds Considerable ‘Grid Flexibility’ Potential in New York.)

Jesse Jenkins, a Princeton University associate professor focused on the decarbonization of energy systems, echoed Dickerson’s comments and said even greater demand flexibility gains may be achieved if costs come down for technologies like thermal storage.

“There are lots of ways we can cut [peak demand forecasts], including ground-source geothermal, which is often twice as efficient, if not more, than air-source heat pumps,” he said.

Dickerson also stressed the importance of energy efficiency investments while urging policymakers to find more progressive ways to fund EE programs, including through the tax base.

“We do need to lean on those with a greater ability to pay,” he said.

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

Skyrocketing energy costs have shocked Massachusetts residents. Here’s what happened.

Everyone is mad about their energy bills — and with good reason.

The skyrocketing bills have emerged as a flashpoint in Massachusetts, as residents increasingly cite them as a major contributor to the high cost of living in the state. More than 20 percent of respondents to a new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll said utilities bills were the single largest strain on their household budgets.

But the reason for the extreme bills goes far beyond the base cost of the natural gas or electricity sent to our homes. Rather, the costs hinge on a series of political decisions and expensive undertakings that have ballooned energy bills.

Some of those extra charges, such as for energy efficiency programs, save you in the long run. For every dollar spent on Mass Save, residents will receive $2.69 back in benefits, according to an analysis by the Acadia Center, a nonprofit focused on clean energy policy.

Noah Berman, senior policy advocate and utility innovation program manager at the Acadia Center, said that when a utility goes before Massachusetts regulators seeking higher reimbursements, it “has 100 percent of the information. They can choose what to pass on, what not to pass on, and how to pass it on to make it look like their preferred option is the only option.”

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

Northeast Partnership to Reduce Climate Emissions Loses Dirtiest Member

Last month, some 360 miles from the Statehouse in Providence, the governor of Pennsylvania and the state Legislature reached a budget deal that will impact Rhode Island and the rest of southern New England.

The deal ended Pennsylvania’s passive participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state program that sets a cap on planet-warming emissions and requires power plants in the 10 participating states to buy allowances to release carbon dioxide. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are RGGI members.

Pennsylvania’s exit from RGGI will cost that state a projected $20 billion in foregone revenue over the next 12 years, according to the Acadia Center, removing the state’s most promising, cost-effective policy lever to reduce harmful emissions from the power sector and leaving it without any meaningful climate and energy affordability policy.

“Instead of allowing the state Supreme Court to rule on RGGI’s legality, Pennsylvania’s elected officials have chosen to abandon the program outright at a time when the program’s benefits are most urgently needed,” according to Paola Moncado Tamayo, the Acadia Center’s senior policy and data analyst. “This is a grave setback for Pennsylvania’s energy, climate, and affordability policies, and it leaves literal billions of dollars in revenues on the table that could have been invested to improve household affordability, reduce energy consumption, improve public health in polluted communities, and insulate everyday families from rising energy costs driven by data center development in Pennsylvania.”

Jamie Dickerson, senior director of climate and clean energy programs at the Acadia Center, noted the value of the RGGI program for both consumers and the environment has been proven year after year, yielding more than twice as many energy bill savings ($20.2 billion) versus program revenues ($9.7 billion) since its Jan. 1, 2009 inception.

To read the full article from ecoRI, click here.

Data center proliferation driving up power needs

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, Dec. 3, 2025…..Power demand from U.S. data centers is expected to surge to 106 gigawatts by 2035, according to a new forecast, a spike that’s driven by growth in artificial intelligence and that may influence the state’s decarbonization and AI leadership goals.

The projected demand is up from the just 40 gigawatts of energy U.S. data centers currently need and a 36% rise over what Bloomberg projected in April, according to a BloombergNEF report released Tuesday. The rise in demand is bolstered by an influx of early-stage data center projects Bloomberg has identified.

Advocates have raised concerns about data centers’ potential environmental effects. These are especially pressing as President Donald Trump has hampered progress on regional renewable energy projects, potentially leading data center operators to turn to less clean sources like diesel generators, said Noah Berman, senior policy advocate at the Acadia Center.

“It’s literal local pollution that has pretty significant health impacts,” Berman said. “…The impacts are real, and they are being felt in real communities all around and unless these facilities are really monitored closely, there’s also not a lot of transparency when it comes to data center development.”

Along with this, data centers strain water supplies and can cause noise or aesthetic concerns in neighborhoods where they are built, he said.

To read the full article from State House News Service, click here.

Aging Oil Plants Face Unclear Future in New England as Winter Risks Rise

In New England, increasing winter reliability concerns are driving questions about how long the region’s aging fleet of oil-fired power plants can, or should, remain on the system.

Power generation from oil has declined dramatically in New England since the start of the century. The oil plants that have remained on the system have run less frequently, mostly during tight winter periods when gas generators have limited access to pipelines.

Oil-firing power plants “are among the highest-polluting resources that we have,” said Joe LaRusso, manager of the clean grid program at the Acadia Center. “Many of them are located in communities that are overburdened with air pollution as it is.”

LaRusso said he is optimistic that three large projects nearing completion — Revolution Wind, Vineyard Wind and the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission line — will reduce the need for oil peakers, potentially pushing additional units into retirement.

NECEC is intended to supply the region with a consistent source of baseload power, while offshore wind performs best in the winter, when oil units run the most. Clean energy and consumer advocates also hope that aggressive demand-side initiatives will cause load to grow at a slower pace than is projected by ISO-NE.

In the long term, LaRusso said the resumption of offshore wind development in New England, the start of offshore wind development in Nova Scotia and increased bilateral power exchanges with Quebec could help the region meet growing winter demands while eliminating most of the remaining need for oil-fired generation.

“It seems that oil is going to follow the same path as coal, unless the demand curve starts rising so fast that batteries can’t keep up,” he said. “There are so many factors in play, but none of it appears to provide a rosy picture for an oil-firing plant.”

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

Carbon compact supporter reflects on Pennsylvania’s departure

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, Nov. 24, 2025…..Pennsylvania has chosen to walk away from the nation’s longest-running carbon reduction compact, but in Massachusetts the Senate’s top energy policymaker says the state should use the moment to double down on the cap-and-trade approach.

Clean energy advocates offered a starkly different assessment.

The Acadia Center called Pennsylvania’s exit a “short-sighted decision” that will cost the state nearly $20 billion in revenue over 12 years and deprive communities of public-health protections and affordability investments.

“This is a grave setback for Pennsylvania’s energy, climate, and affordability policies,” the group said, arguing the withdrawal comes as RGGI’s benefits “are most urgently needed.”

To read the full article from the State House News Service, click here.

Josh Shapiro Ditched the Same Climate Pact That Abigail Spanberger Is Joining

At the same time that congressional Democrats were trying to wrangle their way out of the weekslong government shutdown impasse on Capitol Hill, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) faced his own standoff in Harrisburg.

Environmental groups have criticized his capitulation on RGGI, as well as his failure to live up to his green campaign promises in areas like fracking. The Acadia Center, a clean-energy advocacy group, estimated that the state has lost more than $5 billion in estimated RGGI allowance revenues since 2022. Due to legal challenges filed almost immediately after Wolf signed his executive order joining the pact, Pennsylvania never generated any revenues, since the state never participated in the carbon credit auctions.

To read the full article from the American Prospect, click here.

New Massachusetts bill undermines state progress towards clean energy

The Massachusetts House Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy released passed a bill this week that would undermine the state’s 25 year track record of moving us away from our reliance on dirty and unsafe energy towards a goal of 100% renewable, clean, safe, and eventually cheaper energy sources like solar and wind.

The bill, H4744,  “An Act relative to energy affordability, clean power, and economic competitiveness” is currently before the House Ways and Means Committee where we are encouraging them to make significant changes to the bill to embrace our transition to clean energy not derail it.

Provisions in H4744 that we oppose, because they threaten to slow or reverse our progress toward clean energy: 

• Cuts and restrictions to MASS Save. MASS Save, as you know, is a program funded by ratepayers that helps households and businesses reduce their energy use through weatherization, energy-efficient products and tools, and the purchase and installation of clean energy appliances like electric heat pumps. According to the Acadia Center, since 2012, MASS Save programs have delivered over $55 billion in total lifetime benefits to households and businesses across the state, providing $3.40 in benefits for every $1.00 invested in the programs.  The bill cuts the program by $500 million dollars and caps it at its 2022-2024 level. Additionally the bill limits access to MASS Save for the municipalities pursuing fossil-free building codes, which is an effort we should be promoting, not penalizing.

To read the full article from MassPIRG, click here.

Pennsylvania exits RGGI to pass budget

Pennsylvania exited the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) as a concession by Democratic lawmakers to finalize the state’s long-delayed budget for the coming year.

“We needed to focus on a budget that helps people make ends meet. We also recognize the reality of divided government and the need for compromise,” state House of Representatives majority leader Matt Bradford’s (D) office said on Thursday.

Governor Josh Shapiro (D) on Wednesday signed a bill, HB 416, repealing regulation that allows Pennsylvania to participate in the northeastern power plant CO2 cap-and-trade program. The state’s exit from the program was part of a deal reached by lawmakers to finalize Pennsylvania’s budget for the coming year, a process that had been ongoing for a few months.

“RGGI was seen as a political liability with certain voting blocs in the current affordability environment,” said non-profit Acadia Center senior director Jamie Dickerson and senior policy and data analyst Paola Tamayo.

To read the full article from Argus Media, click here.

Massachusetts bill would undo climate goals and cut efficiency spending

Massachusetts lawmakers have advanced an energy-affordability bill that opponents say would undo years of work on policies to fight climate change and promote energy efficiency, all without actually saving consumers much money.

To read the full article from Canary Media, click here.