More heat pumps and help for renters: What’s in the new Mass Save plan

In a new plan, leaders of Mass Save pledged big changes to the statewide program that provides rebates to residents to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient.

Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at the Acadia Center, a climate advocacy and research group, called the plan “innovative.”

“The plan includes record-breaking numbers all around that will keep Massachusetts a leader in progress on climate,” he wrote in an email.

Murray added it would help many residents — including renters and those with lower incomes — save money and reduce their homes’ climate footprints.

While the Healey administration is not expecting Mass Save alone to shoulder the 2030 goal, it did ask the utilities to estimate what it would cost to cut 2.2 million metric tons, or half the total state goal, by 2027.

The answer: at least $16.3 billion.

Murray of the Acadia Center said that’s too much to put on the backs of ratepayers.

“We have likely hit close to the maximum output of the current funding model,” he said in an email. “It is of the utmost importance that the Commonwealth make finding outside funding for the programs a top priority.”

To read the full article from wbur, click here.