Massachusetts Energy Bill Update
The following is an update on the ongoing process in Massachusetts regarding energy legislation.
Energy policy & advocacy
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Green Energy Consumers Joins Lawsuit to Stop Unlawful Federal Actions Against Wind & Solar
On January 12th, Green Energy Consumers joined a national coalition of regional wind and solar organizations, seeking immediate relief from the Trump administration’s unlawful federal permitting actions that violate the Administrative Procedure Act and arbitrarily and discriminatorily make wind and solar development effectively impossible throughout the country. These arbitrary and capricious actions strike at the heart of New England’s plans to expand the accessibility of affordable clean power. With household electricity bills continuing to sharply rise across the country, consumers should not be barred by the federal government from access to renewable energy.
Don't Look Up: The Environmental Consequences of Mass. House of Representatives' Energy Bill
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is moving forward once again with an energy bill that could impact affordability and climate progress for years to come. The House Ways and Means Committee is working on a new draft, picking up where the Energy Committee left off in November with House Bill 4744, a truly awful piece of legislation. We believe that Ways and Means will come out with a new version by the second week of February.
Electric Vehicles & Public Health
Electrifying our vehicles is a critical tool for cleaning up the air we breathe and improving our public health. The public health effects of pollution from gas and diesel vehicles are widespread but are unequally centered in areas where Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) groups live. Electric vehicles (EVs) offer consumers cleaner and more efficient means of transport than gas cars.
Stand Up For Massachusetts Clean Energy Programs
The Massachusetts House Ways and Means Committee seems to be close to advancing the controversial energy House Bill 4744. This would keep Massachusetts dependent on fossil fuels by cutting Mass Save’s budget, subsidizing gas equipment, and opening the door to putting the cost of new gas pipelines on the backs of electricity ratepayers.
A Very Disappointing Rhode Island Climate Action “Strategy”
The Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4) has approved the final 2025 Climate Action Strategy (CAS) and will send it to the General Assembly and the Governor’s office. The final plan falls short of being a strategy. Unfortunately, we had low expectations after reading the draft executive summary.
Third-Party Suppliers Continue to Overcharge Massachusetts Electricity Consumers: In 2024, by $81 Million
In 2024, third-party “competitive” electric suppliers increased residential electric rates by $80.7 million, according to data from the Energy Information Administration and Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.
We are reporting here a continuation of a pattern in which retail electricity suppliers who sign up individual customers greatly overcharge them compared to what the customers would pay if they received supply service from either their utility (Eversource, National Grid, or Unitil) or their municipal aggregation if it was available.
These companies did this by signing up residential customers, often by promising to lower their electric bill, and then charging their customers an average of 2.1 cents more per kilowatt-hour (kWh) than customers would have paid had they stayed on either their utilities’ basic service rate or their community’s municipal aggregation program (if it had one).
Our Take on the Energy Bill in the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Our friends at theBuilding 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.
Our Take on Rhode Island’s Climate Action Strategy
Rhode Island is at a crucial juncture in taking meaningful action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Action Strategy (CAS), which is a plan required of the state under the Act on Climate, is scheduled to be released to the public on Monday, December 15th, and the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory released by the Department of Environmental Management has been updated for 2023. These two reports provide context for where the state’s emissions are and what ought to be done to achieve the 2030 GHG reduction mandate. Prior to the release of the final CAS, the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4) – Rhode Island’s interagency organization tasked with coordinating climate change efforts – released a draft executive summary for the Climate Action Strategy which claims that the state will be able to meet the 2030 Act on Climate (AOC) with the current policies RI has on the books, e.g. the Renewable Energy Standard, Advanced Clean Cars II, and Advanced Clean Trucks regulations (currently under litigation), current incentives for electric vehicles and heat pump, etc.
Third-Party Electric Suppliers Have Overcharged Rhode Island Residents $62 Million Since 2017
Most of Rhode Island is served by one utility, Rhode Island Energy, and they have a monopoly over the distribution of electricity (poles, wires, meters, billing), but not over the supply of electricity. This leaves residents of Rhode Island with three choices as to who to buy their electricity supply from: “Last Resort” power from the Rhode Island Energy, their city or town through municipal aggregation (if the community has a program), or from a third-party, sometimes called a competitive supplier.