Mass. House advances bill aimed at tackling energy affordability

With thousands of residents still in the dark after a massive blizzard, the Massachusetts House voted Thursday to advance a bill to address the high utility bills across the state.

The House bill (H 5151) seeks to cut roughly $1 billion from the Mass Save program’s marketing and administrative budgets, return 70% of alternative compliance payments (ACPs) to ratepayers through mid-2029, expand clean energy procurement authority, ease political barriers to nuclear development by repealing a voter law that placed restrictions on it, and delay an offshore wind contracting deadline by two years to 2029.

Environmental activists have argued this week that the House’s cut to Mass Save would “devastate” the state’s energy efficiency program and grind it to a halt.

“Energy affordability and clean energy are not at odds – fundamentally, the same solutions needed to address underlying drivers of energy costs are those that will make the grid cleaner, more flexible, and more efficient,” Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at the Acadia Center, said. “The House has advanced a promising updated package of policy reforms that better recognizes this reality, but more work must be done to rectify the major remaining red-flag and remove arbitrary and counterproductive cuts to energy efficiency, which should remain the anchor of the Commonwealth’s energy affordability strategy. Failing to do so will make this package a net-loser for families, who will be left paying dearly for more expensive conventional fuel and infrastructure.”

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