The $500 million cut to Mass Save budget is ‘short-sighted,’ climate activists say

After gas bills spiked across Massachusetts, state officials are reducing the proposed budget for the Mass Save energy efficiency program by $500 million – a move environmentalists call “short-sighted” and argue will increase costs for residents in the long run.

The Department of Public Utilities approved a budget of $4.5 billion for Mass Save – which helps homes and businesses become more energy efficient through projects paid for by a surcharge on electricity and gas bills – for the next three years, after originally proposing a $5 billion budget. The reduction is expected to save residents and businesses about 25 percent on their gas bills and 15 percent on their electric bills, though exact amounts will vary, according to DPU officials.

“This plan, as ambitious as it is, actually only gets us to about half or less than half of the greenhouse gas reduction that we need to have according to our clean energy and climate plan,” said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at the Acadia Center, a non-profit research and advocacy organization dedicated to combatting climate. “Even this plan is a compromise in itself.”

The sticker shock of the high gas bills is partly due to an unseasonably cold winter and the fact that Mass Save only increases its rate once every three years, Murray said. The increase in the Mass Save budget barely keeps up with inflation, he added, noting that the cuts were “disappointing” and “short-sighted.” (In the previous three-year plan, the program had a budget of $3.94 billion.)

Several environmental and climate leaders, including Murray, have advocated for alternative ways of funding the program but acknowledge the challenge of funding the program through the Legislature, particularly in an environment where federal funding for climate projects is at risk.

To read the full article from Commonwealth Beacon, click here.