Massachusetts Seeks to End Ratepayer-Funded Subsidy for New Natural Gas Connections

A new Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities policy designed to discourage continued growth in the use of natural gas would end existing subsidies for gas utility lines in all newly constructed homes and buildings.

Under the new policy, developers, home builders or home buyers who wanted gas heat would have to pay the full cost of the connection, which is currently around $9,000 per home. Under the state’s existing policy, utilities pass the cost of those gas hook-ups along to their existing customers in small monthly surcharges on their bills.

“At a time when we know we should be actually winding down the gas system, we have continued to expand it, and ratepayers have been the ones who have borne the brunt of that,” Kyle Murray, the state program implementation director at Acadia Center, an environmental organization based in Rockport, Maine, said. “This is just a really great decision for energy affordability and a really great win for climate as well.”

To read the full article from Inside Climate News, click here.