If you are reading this, you probably know that the Massachusetts legislature failed to produce a climate bill by the 2023/2024 session’s deadline of July 31. They even suspended their rules and went into August 1st but to no avail. The clock ran out, but it’s worth taking some time to understand how that happened and what it means for the near future.
On July 17th, the Mass. House of Representatives passed a climate bill. This sets the stage for reconciliation with the bill passed by the State Senate on June 25th. This must happen before the legislative session ends on July 31.
At Green Energy Consumers Alliance, we’re all about that “think globally, act locally” thing. So it hurts to report that our beloved states, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, have carbon emissions going up, not down as their laws and the planet require. Unfortunately, this is true at a global and national level as well. These sobering facts are a renewed call to action for all of us.
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.
Recent polling conducted by MassInc on behalf of Rewiring America and Green Energy Consumers Alliance shows strong public support for regulating gas utilities in ways that are compatible with the Commonwealth’s climate laws. The public also supports efforts aimed at switching from fossil fuel heating to electrification.
The Massachusetts State Senate was planning on voting on a major energy and climate bill this week but a Republican Senator hasexercised their right to delay the vote. The Senate will now vote onTuesday, June 25. If you have not already, take five minutes today to let your Senator know you support the bill and certain key amendments.
In Massachusetts, customers of Eversource, National Grid, and Unitil receive electricity bills that are split into two sections: distribution (or delivery) and supply. The distribution section pays for the utility that physically puts up the wires that move power. When it comes to the supply side of bills, Massachusetts is one of a minority of states that allows residential customers to buy their electricity supply in three ways, from their utility (also known as basic service), from their community through a municipal aggregation plan, or a third-party supplier sometimes called a “competitive supplier.” Even when a customer has chosen to get their supply from a municipal aggregation program or a third-party supplier, they almost always receive one bill sent by their distribution utility with charges for both distribution and supply.
Way back in July 2022, we published a blog announcing QARI Drives Green, our two-year partnership with Quincy Asian Resources, Inc, better known as QARI. Our partnership was funded through a grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center through its Accelerating Clean Transportation For All (ACT4All) program. Now, nearly two years later, that particular grant has run its course, so it’s time to celebrate what we’ve achieved and look to what’s next!
Recently, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final vehicle emissions regulations for vehicle model years 2027 through 2032. You’ve likely seen lots of headlines about this. As the New York Times put it, “in terms of lowering the emissions that are heating the planet, this regulation does more than any other climate rule issued by the federal government and more than any measure planned in the remainder of Mr. Biden’s first term." In this blog, we’ll cover what these regulations are, why they’re so important, and how they interact with electric vehicle (EV) policies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
On February 7th, Massachusetts State Representatives on the Telecommunications, Utility, and Energy Committee (TUE) led by Representative Roy, House Chair of the Committee, sent several climate and energy bills forward to the next step of the legislative process, the House Ways and Means Committee. It’s taken two months to fully update all the information on the website, but now that all the info is available, we’re excited to highlight nine great sections in the House climate bills.
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