Our friends at the Building Electrification Accelerator asked us to present information about legislation, House Bill 4744, now working its way through the Massachusetts House of Representatives. This blog is an adaptation of the presentation.
Background
In November, the Telecommunication Utility and Energy Committee of the Mass. House of Representatives reported out a 105-section bill ostensibly to address concerns about energy affordability. Green Energy Consumers Alliance and virtually every energy advocacy organization in the Commonwealth urged the House to reject the bill because it does little to reduce consumer bills and would have eviscerated the state’s climate goals and programs such as Mass Save. The bill has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. We are hopeful that a much better bill will result.
High-Level Overview of House Bill 4744
- Attempts to reduce ratepayer bills by going after clean energy and climate-focused programs.
- Does very little to reduce utility spending and shifts risks to ratepayers.
- Would keep the state dependent on fossil fuels , which would increase gas and electric costs.
- It's anti-heat pump and pro-methane!
Major New Legal Challenges to Clean Energy, Section 3
- Section 3 creates an "affordability and competitiveness " standard that emission reduction programs would have to pass.
- It is loosely worded enough that it could be used as a legal tool by those looking to block almost any climate action.
- This proposal also ignores the presence of similar pre-existing rules with which it would overlap.
Attacks on Mass Save and Electrification
- Cuts $327.5 million from the current three-year plan (Section 98).
- Caps future Mass Save three-year plans at $4 billion (Section 97).
- Eliminates greenhouse gas emissions reduction consideration from cost-effectiveness tests (Sections 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 38).
- Allows the program to support gas appliances (Section 9).
- Section 94 would end Mass Save incentives for new construction for the ten communities in the fossil fuel-free pilot – Acton, Aquinnah, Arlington, Brookline, Cambridge, Concord, Lincoln, Newton, and Northampton.
The Pipeline Tax, Sections 39, 54, 62 – 64:
- Allows electric investor-owned utilities to procure energy, including gas, through long-term contracts backed by new charges on electric utility customers to pay for new gas pipelines.
- Puts enormous long-term risks on electricity ratepayers. For instance, if electric customers pay for a new gas pipeline and gas demand falls, pushing down gas prices, electric customers could be trapped paying for an overpriced contract.
Weakening the Renewable Portfolio Standard
- Section 16 would cut the annual growth rate of the Renewable Energy Standard Class I energy requirement from 3% to 1% until 2032. This would reduce the incentive to build new wind and solar.
- Section 17 requires 70% of Alternative Compliance Payments to go back to ratepayers, reducing support for green initiatives, which currently receive the funds
Effectively Repeals the Commitment to Reduce Emissions by 2030
- Relieves the state of responsibility to meet the 2030 GHG emission reduction mandate (50% below 1990 level) if the state’s Environmental and Energy Affairs Secretary determines that missing the goal was not the Commonwealth’s fault.
Good Provisions (but not good enough)
- Sections 42 and 45 would regulate predatory third-party electric suppliers; these sections represent a big improvement over previous House legislation on this topic. They would curb overcharging and stop suppliers from targeting low-income residents. However, it still falls short of a full ban on predatory third-party electric suppliers, which we view as the most effective, affordable, and consumer-protective solution.
- Section 50 limits a utility's ability to make its customers pay for its political and related activities.
- Section 89 stops Municipal Light Plants from counting biomass as clean energy.
- Section 73 increases the municipal cap on solar net-metering.
What Happens Now?
- The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Aaron Michelwitz, is likely to make significant changes to the bill.
- Some of House Bill 4744 might stay. Then floor vote.
- The Senate is going to release their own bill. Then floor vote.
- Then there will be a conference committee.
What Can You Do?
The bill’s stopover in House Ways and Means is important. Whatever revisions are made by that committee would likely be approved by the full House of Representatives. Please review this list to see if your state representative is on the Committee, before the holidays. If your representative is on the committee, call them and ask for a better bill. If your representative is not on Ways and Means, ask them to contact the Ways and Means chairman on your behalf.
When the bill leaves the House, we will all turn our attention to the Senate.