There’s a lot at stake in the negotiations between the Massachusetts House and Senate over energy affordability legislation. Each branch has passed its own version, and now three members from each side are meeting to reconcile differences in a conference committee. It is expected that they will come out with one final product before Election Day in November. We have written a lot about the bills each side has passed, as well as the affordability offered by Governor Maura Healey in the spring of 2025.

What’s at stake? Energy bills, of course. The conference committee will be sifting through a couple dozen ideas. Also at stake is whether the Commonwealth will move forward or backwards on our goals to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

A major point of contention between the House and Senate will be whether to cut the budget of the state’s energy efficiency program, Mass Save, by one BILLION dollars. The House voted to do that in February. On July 1, the Senate voted to pass an energy bill with no such cut to Mass Save.

A billion-dollar cut would be devastating.

In its search for ways to reduce energy bills, the House landed on the idea that a billion dollars could be cut from the budget of the Mass Save energy efficiency program in its current 2025-2027 program. The three-year budget was set by the Department of Public Utilities at $4.5 billion. This means that if the conference committee adopts the House’s position in late 2026 and Governor Healey approves the legislation, the billion-dollar axe would fall almost entirely onto the 2027 program year. Simple math suggests that one billion dollars is a two-thirds cut out of about a $1.5 billion program for 2027.

A cut of that magnitude would obviously result in reduced energy savings and increased emissions. It would be a huge step backwards on clean energy and increase our dependence upon fossil fuels.

Let’s keep the Mass Save workforce in place.

The mission of Green Energy Consumers Alliance is energy affordability and clean energy, so we are aghast at the thought of slashing Mass Save so severely. But we are also shocked that more discussion has not been had about how a billion-dollar cut would undoubtedly cause the layoffs of thousands of workers. We are talking about the good people who insulate homes, install heat pumps, conduct energy assessments, perform quality control inspections, track program metrics, and all the necessary tasks behind the scenes.

Has the legislature really thought through whether it wants to order the layoffs of thousands of people at a time when Massachusetts has the second-highest rate of unemployment in New England? Would the legislature ever vote to eliminate thousands of jobs out of state government, higher education, or health care? I don’t think so.

We have heard that some House members believe that the cut would be temporary and would only affect the current 2025-2027 program. That is flat-out wrong. No one can expect that all those who received pink slips will come running back in 2028. In fact, many of the companies they are working for today will surely go out of business altogether.

We can do better!

To be clear, Green Energy Consumers Alliance would never support such a deep cut into the state’s energy efficiency program. We especially oppose it now, when there are many ways to make energy more affordable without halting the transition to clean energy and doubling down on fossil fuels. We wrote about those ideas when the House and Senate each passed their own bills. More recently, in early August, Governor Healey wrote a letter to legislators with her most recent thoughts on energy affordability. We wrote about her letter here.

You still have a role to play.

The aforementioned conference committee is made up of three members from the House and three from the Senate. But your senator and representative can still influence the conference committee. So ask your legislators to do just that.

Please call or email your state Representative and Senator (you can find them here).

You could say something like:

“Hello, my name is [NAME], and I live in [TOWN]. I urge you to ask the Energy Conference Committee to reduce gas utility overspending, regulate third-party electric suppliers, and promote clean energy. Most of all, I am also asking you to express strong opposition to cutting Mass Save’s budget. Thank you.”