By Chris Lisinski
The Healey administration hopes to save residents billions of dollars in energy costs over the next five years by pulling a host of executive-branch levers, including redirection of some clean energy development funding to shave $50 off electricity bills in April.
Gov. Maura Healey on Monday sketched out a push to reduce household energy bills with actions that her administration, including the Department of Public Utilities and Department of Energy Resources, can take without legislative approval. She also continues to work on legislation targeting energy affordability.
Most of the savings Healey outlined Monday would arrive in the medium or long term as a result of expanding discount programs, stabilizing the local energy supply, and redirecting clean energy-related charges that drive up utility bills.
But some relief will arrive almost immediately. Residential customers who receive electricity from Eversource, National Grid and Unitil will each receive a $50 credit in April, funded by about $125 million the state collected in so-called alternative compliance payments.
The state still has about $24 million in uncommitted ACP funds on hand for any emergency actions, according to officials. Healey called redirecting most of that program “good fiscal management.”
Officials also estimate natural gas bills will be about 10 % lower in March and April after the DPU halved a proposed budget increase for the Mass Save program, which is largely funded by
charges passed along to consumers.
“I know [$50 is] not a ton of money compared to what people have been paying, but it is something. Every dollar counts. This is yours to keep,” Healey said. “Between gas and electric savings, it means $220 million now. Because of our actions, $220 million is going right back in the pockets of Massachusetts residents.”
The vast majority of the savings Healey and her deputies believe they can achieve over the next half-decade would come from expanding discount programs to include more Bay State households, eliminating customer charges used to fund some clean energy programs, and tapping into other sources like hydroelectricity generated in Quebec.
One component of the plan would increase automatic enrollment in discount plans offered by utilities, which the administration estimated could save $967 million over five years. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said many people are already eligible for reduced costs but do not take advantage of the options.
DPU is also working to implement a new discount rate available to moderate-income households, an idea outlined in the clean energy bill Healey signed in November.
“This would be the first time that any state in the country has provided a program to provide discounts specifically to middle-income folks in their state,” Healey said.
Healey said the administration would take steps to “smooth out” energy bills over the course of the year so the spikes in the colder winter months—when the region uses more electricity and heat—would not be as dramatic.
“The bills are high, but it’s also that they’re coming out of left field. You didn’t see it coming,” she said. “We want to eliminate that volatility so that families and people can plan their budget.”
Healey’s plan in part returns to the playbook the DPU rolled out with Mass Save: diverting funds from clean energy and energy efficiency programs to lessen the burden on ratepayers.
The governor on Monday praised Mass Save as having “served an important purpose.” If the program that offers rebates and incentives for lower-emissions and more efficient infrastructure did not exist, electricity bills would be 14% higher than they are today, she said.
But during a stretch of “high prices and volatility,” Healey said, she felt it worthwhile to explore any means to reduce costs for Bay Staters.
That’s also what the administration envisions doing with the Solar Renewable Energy Certificate I and II program, which have helped build out a network of solar panels. The program was set to be phased out at an unspecified point in the future, but Healey said her team “accelerated it.”
Officials estimate the end of SREC I and II will save a combined $1.5 billion over the next five years.
“We are literally going down the [energy] bill and looking at every single charge, trying to decide whether something might be modified or whether something has served its purpose or should stay the same,” Tepper added. “We’re in the process of doing that analysis now.”
Caitlin Peale Sloan, vice president for Massachusetts at the Conservation Law Foundation, described Healey’s push to redirect some energy efficiency funding toward ratepayer relief as “an important gesture.”
“It is certainly a short-term effort. It’s not something that could be done on a consistent basis without major legislative changes,” she said in an interview. “Energy bills are more regressive than taxes, so thinking about different ways to finance certain programs so that we can continue to make progress toward our absolutely essential climate requirements while making energy bills more affordable for people—that’s very important.”
Healey’s plan also calls for the Department of Public Utilities to examine new “potential regulations” on competitive electric suppliers. Watchdogs—including Healey herself when she was attorney general—have accused those third-party companies of predatory tactics, but legislative efforts to prohibit them from selling power to residents stalled in the House.
Limiting expansion of competitive electric supply to residential customers could save $335 million over a four-year period, Healey’s office estimated.
Industry groups representing competitive electric suppliers argue they can save customers money and often offer power at lower prices. Last month, the average rate for competitive suppliers was 12.49 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to an average 13.82 cents per kilowatt hour from seven utility companies, according to the Retail Energy Advancement League.
“Governor Healey’s Energy Affordability Agenda can benefit from further expanding customer knowledge on how to shop for competitive electric suppliers,” said Chris Ercoli, the industry group’s president. “Competition has not only spurred innovation to the benefit of Massachusetts energy users, it has created a market where energy suppliers are competing for the business of customers, resulting in lower energy prices.”
While the ideas Healey offered Monday reflect actions the executive branch can take on its own, the governor is also eyeing plans that would involve the House and Senate. Healey still plans to file an “energy affordability and independence bill,” echoing a pledge she first made to business leaders two weeks ago.
Key to stabilizing energy costs in the long term, she said, is making Massachusetts less dependent on international price changes for fossil fuels.
Tepper said a new transmission line bringing hydropower generated in Quebec to the New England grid “will be online this year” after a years-long legal and political delay. Officials estimate the power from that project, known as New England Clean Energy Connect, will save Massachusetts about $192 million between 2026 and 2029 compared to other, more pricey sources of electricity.
“I pray that we don’t see tariffs on those electrons, because that would be counter to the purpose of lowering costs,” Healey said, referencing the major tariffs President Donald Trump wants to impose on Canada.
She voiced frustration with Trump over the president’s opposition to offshore wind, an industry rife with recent struggles but long viewed as carrying major potential for creating power in Massachusetts.
“Part of the reason I’m so frustrated that a federal administration would take wind off the table -- that’s a source of our own, homegrown, right here,” she said. “We’re not a state that drills oil. We don’t have that here. There are some states that do that. What does Massachusetts have? We have the Saudi Arabia of wind right off our shores. We’ve got some of it churning already. We’ve got other projects in deployment. That’s going to be a game-changer, that’s going to drive down people’s bills.”
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance noted that Healey’s plan steers funds meant for renewable energy projects back to
ratepayers and ends the solar renewable energy credit program, alleging that “energy policies she’s been championing” are contributing to high energy costs.
“Massachusetts residents shouldn’t have to suffer because of overreaching energy policies that make power more expensive. Instead of offering a one-time $50 credit, the governor should be rethinking the entire Net Zero by 2050 Roadmap mandate that is driving up costs for families and businesses. The state’s energy policy should be a goal, not a rigid and costly mandate that punishes ratepayers while others around the country enjoy significantly lower bills resulting in a competitive advantage,” said Paul Diego Craney, executive director of the alliance.
The alliance has been a frequent critic of the state’s offshore wind energy push and recently appealed for more natural gas and nuclear power instead of “arbitrary” clean energy mandates.
“We have to see what happens with the direction in Washington, but if the new administration supports expanding natural gas pipelines into New England, the New England states should be open to it,” Craney told the News Service recently. “As it stands now, New England imports natural gas and we burn coal during the winter months. Common sense tells you that domestic natural gas is much better than importing natural gas.”
He added, “Regarding nuclear, New England once had five nuclear power plants. If the goal is high density base load power that is not weather dependent and net zero, then New England should be heavily pursing nuclear. Look at old nuclear power plant sites as areas to build new ones. Look at existing power plants and expand those. New England will need more power, even without the net zero mandates, nuclear and natural gas seem to be the only realistic options.”
Michael P. Norton contributed reporting.
(State House News)
