Massachusetts could give heat pump owners a huge discount on electricity

Massachusetts regulators are considering a plan to make heat pumps an obvious financial choice for most residents.

The state Department of Public Utilities is mulling a proposal to heavily discount electricity rates in the winter months for households with heat pumps, a move that could cut energy bills for more than 80% of residents who switch over to the efficient, electric appliance from fossil-fueled or electric resistance heating. For many of those households, the savings would amount to hundreds or even thousands of dollars each winter.

Supporters of seasonal heat pump rates stress that the lower prices do not mean that heat pump users are being subsidized by everyone else. In fact, they say, the proposed rate structure is far more fair than the status quo.

“This is not a handout to heat pump owners,” said Kyle Murray, director of state program implementation for clean-energy nonprofit Acadia Center. ​“This is a fundamental issue of fairness.”

Here’s why: The delivery portion of an electricity bill pays for the construction and upkeep of the poles, wires, and other infrastructure needed to get power where it’s going. To determine how much to charge customers — and this is a bit of a simplification — the utility divides the total cost by the number of kilowatt-hours it expects customers to use. That number becomes the delivery rate.

To read the article from Canary Media, click here.

Report: Adopting heat pumps in Mass. is an issue of fairness

SPRINGFIELD — There’s a way for Massachusetts residents to reduce the costs of electricity while the state works to achieve its climate goals: widespread adoption of air-source heat pumps.

 That’s according to a new report from Switchbox, a New York climate policy think tank.

The fund was one of a few organizations that commissioned Switchbox’s report. The others include Green Energy Consumers Alliance in Boston; Acadia Center in Hartford, Connecticut; ZeroCarbonMA, a statewide coalition; and Rewiring America, a national group.

“They actually aren’t incurring any more stress upon the grid or the system than than their non-heat pump counterparts,” said Kyle Murray, state program implementation director at Acadia Center in Connecticut. Despite this, heat pump customers are charged more than double for the delivery of electricity, the report said.

Murray, of Acadia Center, said ratepayers should only be charged for the amount of energy they incur.

“This is a fundamental issue of fairness at the end of the day,” he said.

To read the full article from Mass Live, click here.

New Report: Massachusetts households poised for more than $600 in median savings with heat pump upgrades under proposed rates

BOSTON – A new report shows that 82% of MA households can save an average of $687 each winter by upgrading to high-efficiency heat pumps if the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) adopts proposed rate changes from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER). The findings show that the proposed rates would help correct an existing imbalance in which current heat pump users are unfairly subsidizing other electric ratepayers.

The report, Heat Pump Rates in Massachusetts, was developed by Switchbox and sponsored by Environmental Defense Fund, Acadia Center, Rewiring America, Green Energy Consumers Alliance, and ZeroCarbonMA. The analysis highlights how Under DOER’s proposed rates, most electric customers of National Grid, Eversource, and Unitil would save money by switching to heat pumps, including single-family homeowners and customers who heat with methane gas.

“This report makes clear that fairer electric rates are key to unlocking the full potential of clean heating,” said Kyle Murray, Director, State Program Implementation and Massachusetts Program Director for Acadia Center. “The proposed heat pump rates level the playing field, correcting outdated price structures and delivering real savings for households. This isn’t just about savings for individual households, smarter rates strengthen the grid, support a cleaner economy and move us closer to our climate goals.”

To read the full press release from Environmental Defense Fund, click here.

Report Details Cost Savings of Heat Pump Rates for Mass. Consumers

Strong winter discounts on electricity delivery rates are needed to more fairly charge Massachusetts homes with heat pumps for their share of grid costs, according to a new report commissioned by a coalition of environmental groups.

In December, an interagency working group recommended that the DPU require the utilities to establish more aggressive winter heat pump discounts. (See Mass. Electricity Rates Working Group Issues Recommendations.) 

Under this updated discount, houses with heat pumps would pay roughly the same delivery costs as those heated by gas during the heating season. Supply costs would not be affected by the discount, and heat pumps would still pay for their full supply costs throughout the year. 

Kyle Murray, director of state program implementation at the Acadia Center, emphasized that heat pump rates do not represent a “handout to heat pump owners.” 

“Even though heat pump owners are using more energy than their non-heat pump counterparts, they’re not actually causing more stress on the system,” Murray said. “Heat pump rates just simply represent fairness in ratemaking.” 

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

Renewables Helped Prevent Blackouts on New England’s Hottest Day This Summer

Renewable energy sources, such as solar power and battery storage, have helped keep power on in New England, even during peak demand on the hottest day of summer.

According to a recent report from the nonprofit Acadia Center, more than 5 gigawatts of behind-the-meter solar provided additional support during peak demand times, despite the temperature in New England exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit on June 24.

ISO New England, a grid operator, issued a Power Caution on June 24 due to the heat, and that evening, peak energy demand reached 26,024 MWh, the highest peak since 2013.

Based on Acadia Center’s findings, as much as 22% of power usage in New England on June 24 came from behind-the-meter solar.

Thanks to residential solar, customers did not have to face energy blackouts and even saved money on skyrocketing electricity prices during the heat wave. The report from Acadia Center noted that while wholesale electricity prices reached more than $1,000 per megawatt-hour (MWh), customers with behind-the-meter solar saved more than $8.2 million collectively. This estimate may even be much lower than reality, with Acadia Center explaining that behind-the-meter solar may have saved customers $19.4 million in energy costs on June 24 alone.

“Solar was helping not just deliver megawatt-hours but also suppressing demand for the entire region,” Jamie Dickerson, senior director of clean energy and climate programs at Acadia Center, said in a statement. “Basically helping ensure that the grid could keep the lights on, could keep the air conditioning running.”

But total energy and cost savings were likely even higher thanks to other clean energy improvements, such as battery storage and higher energy efficiency. According to Acadia Center, energy efficiency helped reduce peak demand by about 2 gigawatts.

As Canary Media reported, extensive battery storage in Vermont further reduced grid strain during peak demand. Green Mountain Power, a utility provider in Vermont, was able to reduce strain on the grid via residential and EV batteries, saving customers around $3 million.

“Green Mountain Power has proven that by making these upfront investments in batteries, you can save ratepayers money,” Peter Sterling, executive director of the trade association Renewable Energy Vermont, told Canary Media. ​“It’s something I think is replicable by other utilities in the country.”

Acadia Center warned that recent cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act for clean energy investments will likely limit states’ and utility providers’ abilities to quickly, efficiently respond in similar peak energy demand scenarios, which would increase risk of power disruptions to consumers.

“Those resources are susceptible to equipment failure and to outages, and there is correlated outage risk across the very large fleet of natural gas generation in the region,” Dickerson said. “All the more reason why we need to diversify the region’s portfolio.”

Relying solely on fossil fuel energy sources alone will not be enough to meet demand, especially during heat waves like the one observed in New England on June 24.

“Taken together, the June 24 heat wave event was a clear example of a successful portfolio-based approach, using multiple complementary clean energy resources — solar, energy efficiency, energy storage, transmission imports, and beyond — to help ensure resource adequacy for the grid and relieve extreme prices for the region’s consumers,” the Acadia Center report concluded. “Unless further thwarted by counterproductive federal proposals, the northeast will see an increasingly diversified clean energy portfolio called upon to meet similar peak demand events in the years ahead, minimizing the reliance on aging, inefficient fossil fuel power plants to serve peak demand.”

To read the full article from EcoWatch, click here.

How Trump’s big law impacts Massachusetts

The massive tax and domestic policy bill passed by Congressional Republicans and signed by President Trump this month expands tax cuts, limits Medicaid and food assistance programs, balloons immigration enforcement spending, and adds trillions to the national debt.

The WBUR newsroom took a look at how some key provisions may affect residents and programs in Massachusetts.

“The [Big Beautiful Bill] is bad, bad, bad for Massachusetts. Bad for ratepayers’ wallets, bad for grid reliability, bad for energy independence,” wrote Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at the Acadia Center, a climate advocacy and research group, in an email. “It will be a setback for the clean energy industry and will force Massachusetts to adopt new creative strategies to keep vital public policy goals on track.”

To read the full article from wbur, click here.

Batteries are playing a bigger role in keeping the lights on during New England heat waves

Battery storage and small-scale solar played a critical role in keeping New England’s electric grid reliable and may have saved customers tens of millions of dollars during late June’s major heat wave, according to a new analysis.

As temperatures soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the region saw thick humidity, people cranked their air conditioners, drawing more power from the grid.

That shift could have saved consumers more than $19 million, according to an analysis by the Acadia Center, a regional environmental nonprofit and thinktank.

Absent all that rooftop solar, Acadia Center estimates New England would have broken its 19-year record for peak demand.

Power banking

The Acadia Center and ISO New England say power storage also played a critical role in keeping the lights on during this heat wave.

“I think people are really starting to understand that the value of renewables increases substantially when you pair them with batteries,” said Noah Berman, with the Acadia Group.

Batteries — whether smaller ones in people’s homes, or bigger “utility scale” ones plugged into the regional transmission grid — store power when it’s cheap and plentiful, like solar energy in the middle of the day.

Analysts with the Acadia Center hope batteries and a little extra coordination on the part of grid operators and utilities could help make that future winter peak lower, saving money and carbon emissions.

To read the full article from Vermont Public, click here.

Behind-the-meter Solar Shines in ISO-NE Capacity Deficiency Event

ISO-NE’s capacity deficiency event demonstrated the significant benefits of solar resources, along with their limits in displacing fossil resources during peak load periods.

Amid the rapid growth of behind-the-meter (BTM) solar in New England, a capacity deficiency event demonstrated the significant benefits of solar resources, along with their limits in displacing fossil resources during peak load periods.

Without the contributions of BTM solar, ISO-NE estimates the peak would have reached over 28,400 MW at about 3:40 p.m. The 2,400-MW reduction in the region’s peak provided significant cost and reliability benefits to the grid. According to an analysis by the Acadia Center, “BTM solar avoided as much as roughly $19.4 million in costs on this single day by suppressing the overall price of wholesale electricity.

In the wake of the capacity deficiency event, clean energy advocates made the case that increased energy storage capacity would have provided significant benefits during the peak.

“Had we had even more behind-the-meter solar paired with storage online, we could have potentially completely avoided that absurd price spike later in the evening,” said Kyle Murray of the Acadia Center at the June 25 hearing.

The Acadia Center wrote in its analysis of the event that there is “clear evidence that additional BTM battery energy storage would have been able to further reduce the overall cost to consumers by increasing flexibility and shifting the solar production later in the day, dampening the early evening peak prices.”

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

A heat wave hit New England’s grid. Clean energy saved the day.

As temperatures across New England soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks, solar panels and batteries helped keep air conditioners running while reducing fossil-fuel generation and likely saving consumers more than $20 million.

“Local solar, energy efficiency, and other clean energy resources helped make the power grid more reliable and more affordable for consumers,” said Jamie Dickerson, senior director of clean energy and climate programs at the Acadia Center, a regional nonprofit that analyzed clean energy’s financial benefits during the recent heat wave.

At the same time, rooftop and other ​“behind-the-meter” solar panels throughout the region, plus Vermont’s network of thousands of batteries, supplied several gigawatts of needed power, reducing demand on an already-strained system and saving customers millions of dollars. It was a demonstration, supporters say, of the way clean energy and battery storage can make the grid less carbon-intensive and more resilient, adaptable, and affordable as climate change drives increased extreme weather events.

“As we see more extremes, the region still will need to pursue an even more robust and diverse fleet of clean energy resources,” Dickerson said. ​“The power grid was not built for climate change.”

On June 24, behind-the-meter solar made up as much as 22% of the power being used in New England at any given time, according to the Acadia Center. At 3:40 p.m., total demand peaked at 28.5 GW, of which 4.4 GW was met by solar installed by homeowners, businesses, and other institutions.

As wholesale power prices surpassed $1,000 per megawatt-hour, this avoided consumption from the grid saved consumers at least $8.2 million, according to the Acadia Center.

This estimate, however, is conservative, Dickerson said. He and his colleagues also did a more rigorous analysis accounting for the fact that solar suppresses wholesale energy prices by reducing overall demand on the system. By these calculations, the true savings for consumers actually topped $19 million, and even that seems low, Dickerson said.

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

FOR RELEASE: RGGI States Finalize Program Updates to Support Clean Air and Affordable Energy through 2037

Full Press Release Here

MEDIA CONTACTS
Paola Moncada Tamayo
Senior Policy and Data Analyst
ptamayo@acadiacenter.org; 860-246-7121 x204

Jamie Dickerson
Senior Director, Climate and Clean Energy Programs
jdickerson@acadiacenter.org; 401-276-0600 x102

ROCKPORT, ME – On Thursday, July 3, 2025, the ten states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) announced the conclusion of the program’s Third Program Review, finalizing a long process for updates aimed at reinforcing the region’s power sector transition and related climate and energy affordability goals. The agreement by the states will allow for the program’s benefits to continue through 2037, which to-date have brought $20 billion in energy bill savings through the investment of proceeds. RGGI has proven the power of multi-state collaboration, and the continuation of the program will ensure steady investments to benefit consumers, address energy affordability, support communities, and increase economic output. The agreement includes several important changes to strengthen and future-proof the program for consumer and community benefits, including: a strengthened emissions cap through 2037, new market mechanisms, the removal of offsets for program compliance, and a commitment to continued progress. Acadia Center applauds the RGGI states and RGGI, Inc., for bringing this updated model rule to fruition during a period of unprecedented uncertainty.   

“RGGI has long demonstrated its effectiveness in providing consumers with large benefits in energy savings and investments in a cleaner future” said Daniel Sosland, president of Acadia Center. “RGGI program improvements reflect the power of bipartisan states’ cooperation to work together toward a cleaner energy future. We look forward to supporting their efforts as they move into the implementation phase and ensuring that the benefits of this program reach households and communities across the region.”

The conclusion of the program review and associated updated model rule bring clarity to several important program and market mechanisms that affect the program’s operation and its resulting impacts to power plants, communities, consumers, and other stakeholders. The program mechanisms described below will work together not only to reduce detrimental pollution that harms public health, but also to enhance the program’s ability to keep delivering tangible financial and energy benefits to consumers and the public.

Key Program Updates:

  • Stronger Emissions Cap: Beginning in 2027, the new regional cap puts the ten states on a declining trajectory to reach just under 10 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions from the power sector by 2037, down from a cap of 82 million tons of CO2e emissions today and a cap of 188 million tons CO2e when the program first held auctions in 2008. Backed by state policy and consistent market direction, it is a positive step forward that demonstrates a strong, multi-state commitment to grid decarbonization.
  • Removal of Offsets: Historically, the RGGI program has allowed power generators to use offset allowances representing GHG reductions achieved outside the power sector (e.g., avoided agricultural methane) to meet their emission reduction requirements. RGGI will no longer issue offset allowances beginning in 2027, simplifying program design and reinforcing the focus on direct emissions reductions in the power sector.
  • A New Cost Containment Reserve Market Mechanism: A two-tier Cost Containment Reserve (CCR) will be instituted with the objective of helping manage cost volatility while maintaining cap integrity across the ten-state region.
  • Minimum Price Floor: The existing Emissions Containment Reserve (ECR) will be replaced by a higher minimum price floor, set at $9 in 2027 and increasing by 7% annually, ensuring RGGI sends a stronger lower bound price signal to power generators.

The updated Model Rule provides the framework for each participating state to revise its own rules through legislative or regulatory processes, with the goal of implementing these changes by January 1, 2027.

Since the first auction in 2008, RGGI has steadily evolved through three program reviews to become an effective policy tool for emission reductions and regional collaboration. The chart above illustrates how the emissions cap has tightened significantly over time, from an initial 188 million tons to a projected 10 million tons in 2037. The new cap trajectory from the Third Program Review sends a strong signal to markets and power providers that the decarbonization of the power sector is not only possible but already underway across the region and expected to continue, irrespective of countervailing changes at the federal level.

Acadia Center’s full set of Findings and Recommendations for the Third Program Review Report helped shape the discussion by offering proposals to strengthen program impact, enhance equity in proceeds spending, and address other longer-term elements of the program’s evolution.

A Proven Track-Record of Success

RGGI is the United States’ first multi-state program designed to reduce pollution from power plants, providing significant benefits for the participating states and their consumers and communities. Since its inception, RGGI has contributed to nearly 50% reduction in CO₂ emissions from covered power plants. The program has generated over $9 billion in proceeds, which states have invested in clean energy, energy efficiency, and bill assistance programs that benefit local communities and consumers.

RGGI announced that program investments have directly benefited more than 8 million households and 400,000 businesses and are expected to save ratepayers over $20 billion on energy bills. A recent analysis by Acadia Center, RGGI Proceeds in Action, highlights in further detail how states have used these investments to deliver benefits to communities and consumers, along with recommendations for improved reporting and proceed investments.

Looking Ahead

As part of this announcement, the RGGI states have committed to launching a Fourth Program Review no later than 2028. This future review will assess the performance of the newly adopted changes, consider additional adjustments as needed, and further explore opportunities to ensure a reliable, equitable, and clean electricity system across the region.

The updated framework also leaves the door open for future participation by additional states, which would bring greater economic efficiency and climate benefit to the region as a whole.

The graph above focuses on the cumulative RGGI cap over the 200-2037 time period for the ten states that currently participate in RGGI and assumes New Jersey did not exit the program from 2012-2019 for the sake of visual clarity.