Massachusetts Polling Shows Strong Support for Gas Utility Regulation and Electrification
Recent polling conducted by MassInc on behalf of Rewiring America and Green Energy Consumers Alliance shows strong...
![Picture of Larry Chretien](https://blog.greenenergyconsumers.org/hs-fs/hubfs/larry%20(1).jpg?width=30&name=larry%20(1).jpg)
On Tuesday, June 25, the Mass. State Senate passed, by a vote of 38-2, An Act Upgrading the Grid and Protecting Consumers. We appreciate the Senate’s good work. They’re doing the right thing for consumers by banning retail electricity suppliers. They’re supporting EV adoption. And they are authorizing the Department of Public Utilities to regulate gas utilities in alignment with our climate mandates.
An Act Upgrading the Grid and Protecting Consumers would:
While we support all of the above provisions, the Section 101 which directs the DPU to regulate gas utilities with climate targets in mind is the one that would move the needle the most on the Commonwealth’s emissions over time. Reforming our gas utility laws to account for climate change has been one of our legislative priorities and that of 70 plus organizations that have signed onto the Clean Heat Platform.
Obviously, for a bill to become law, it needs to pass both the Senate and House and be signed by the governor. We expect that an energy bill will be released by the House in the next week or so and be voted on by the full House on or about July 10. Furthermore, we expect that the legislature will essentially end their session by the end of July. In other words, if a climate bill is not passed within the month, we will have to wait until the next session in 2025.
We sense that the House bill will likely include provisions regarding the siting of energy infrastructure and increasing the adoption of electric vehicles. Back in April, we wrote about the House committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy made recommendations to pass several good energy bills on a wide range of items that could appear in an overall climate bill.
Nonetheless, we are concerned that unless state representatives hear more from their constituents, the important changes to the way the DPU regulates gas utilities will not be included. This is important because if the House does pass a climate bill, the House and Senate will establish a conference committee to iron out differences between their respective bills. For those concerned about the climate crisis, the closer that the House’s language on gas policy gets to what we see in the Senate bill, the better.
It is worth noting that earlier in this legislative session, many members of the House, listed below, co-sponsored the Future of Clean Heat bill which was the basis for the Senate bill’s gas utility reform. This indicates strong support and provides some grounds for optimism. We are hopeful that these members will work to make gas utility reform a part of the House climate bill.
House Member | District |
Steven Owens | 29th Middlesex |
Jennifer Balinsky Armini | 8th Essex |
Michelle L. Ciccolo | 15th Middlesex |
Vanna Howard | 17th Middlesex |
Lindsay N. Sabadosa | 1st Hampshire |
Jon Santiago | 9th Suffolk |
James K. Hawkins | 2nd Bristol |
Margaret R. Scarsdale | 1st Middlesex |
Ruth B. Balser | 12th Middlesex |
Kenneth I. Gordon | 21st Middlesex |
James C. Arena-DeRosa | 8th Middlesex |
Sean Garballey | 23rd Middlesex |
Rodney M. Elliott | 16th Middlesex |
Mike Connolly | 26th Middlesex |
Samantha Montaño | 15th Suffolk |
Brian W. Murray | 10th Worcester |
Erika Uyterhoeven | 27th Middlesex |
Kay Khan | 11th Middlesex |
Carmine Lawrence Gentile | 13th Middlesex |
Marjorie C. Decker | 25th Middlesex |
Simon Cataldo | 14th Middlesex |
Jay D. Livingstone | 8th Suffolk |
Danillo A. Sena | 37th Middlesex |
Jeffrey Rosario Turco | 19th Suffolk |
Tommy Vitolo | 15th Norfolk |
Tram T. Nguyen | 18th Essex |
Dawne Shand | 1st Essex |
Adrianne Pusateri Ramos | 14th Essex |
Kristin E. Kassner | 2nd Essex |
Tricia Farley-Bouvier | 2nd Berkshire |
Kate Donaghue | 19th Worcester |
John Francis Moran | 9th Suffolk |
Natalie M. Blais | 1st Franklin |
Patricia A. Duffy | 5th Hampden |
William F. MacGregor | 10th Suffolk |
Thomas M. Stanley | 9th Middlesex |
Manny Cruz | 7th Essex |
Estela A. Reyes | 4th Essex |
In 2024, MassINC Polling Group ran a poll commissioned by Rewiring America and Green Energy Consumers Alliance, to survey Massachusetts residents on their attitudes toward building electrification policy. We found strong support for policies requiring all-electric new construction, emission reduction mandates for large buildings, and the sort of gas utility reforms contained in the Senate bill. We are hopeful that House members will keep these survey results in mind as they deliberate on their climate bill.
The Senate bill takes what we believe is the only logical position on the issue of predatory, greenwashing electricity suppliers by banning them from signing new contracts with residential customers. Unfortunately, the House has been resistant, as reported by the Boston Globe and WBUR. This is another issue that House members can rectify in their climate bill.
If you want to help get a strong climate bill to makes it through the Legislature, contact your State Senator (you can find their contact information here) and thank them for passing their climate bill. Then contact your State Representative and ask them to support a strong climate bill that reforms our natural gas laws and protects consumers from third-party electric suppliers.
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