IN THE TRANSITION to clean energy, low- to moderate-income homeowners in Massachusetts have the odds stacked against them. Our state has the second-oldest housing stock in the country, along with some of the highest utility prices.  

A study from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy shows that low-income Black, Hispanic, and Native American households face dramatically higher energy burdens – spending a larger share of their income on energy bills – than the average household. At the same time, this historically expensive market means more homeowners are seeking to improve where they already live instead of purchasing a new house. 

Programs for those types of energy improvements have largely focused on electrifying or decarbonizing units in larger multifamily buildings rather than on single-family homes — even though 1-4 family homes count for 60 percent of building emissions. Plus, higher-income borrowers tend to be the ones to take advantage of existing incentive programs, while low-income communities are vulnerable to predatory lending practices — particularly amid the confusing nature of solar leasing programs.  

Given that Massachusetts wants to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, we need to make clean energy improvements possible for every homeowner. We can’t afford to leave anyone behind. 

The answer: flexible, innovative financing options that empower homeowners — the ones who had been excluded from the chance to upgrade their homes — to make energy improvements that save money and cut emissions.  

Because of its ubiquity and quick return on investment, rooftop solar is an easy choice. When Nectar Community Investments designed and tested our Solar Plus pilot program in 2023, we had a chance to see what worked. The program included decarbonization assessments and subsidies, and three homeowners purchased solar panels and made other required energy-efficiency upgrades or retrofits required to get their homes ready.  

The Massachusetts Community Climate Bank is on the right track with the Energy Saver Home Loan Program, a new $20 million program that launched in April 2024 to help low- and moderate-income homeowners make clean energy improvements to their homes. After our Solar Plus pilot, we became an early participating lender in the Energy Saver program. We’re proud to partner with the Healey-Driscoll Administration, MassHousing, and others on this sustainable approach to financing green infrastructure. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Solar for All program is expected to be released this summer, and we look forward to participating in it. 

We’ve closed our first two homeowner loans through Energy Saver, but we know there’s more work to do. Just in our home city of Lawrence, there are more than 400 units heated by electrical baseboard and more than 2,000 units heated with oil, making them potential candidates for electrification and solar.  

Climate change is disproportionately harming these homeowners, and they need options to keep from falling behind. Flexibility and creativity in financing are exactly what we need to meet the moment before us. Our future depends on it.  

Glynn Lloyd is the executive director of Nectar Community Investments, a community development financial institution headquartered in Lawrence. He also serves on the Commonwealth’s Energy Transformation Advisory Board.

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ANNUAL STATE BUDGET hearings got off to a late start this year, but lawmakers packed two hearings into three business days before pausing for an unusual two-week break that is coinciding with a general lack of activity among all legislative committees 10 weeks into the new session.

While it doesn’t explain the full length of the pause, nearly a dozen lawmakers, including the chairs of the House and Senate Ways and Means committees, were out of the country recently for three days.

In response to a News Service inquiry about the longer-than-usual break in budget hearings and possible out-of-state travel, aides to House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate Way and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said 11 legislators, all Democrats, left for Canada on Thursday with plans to return Saturday.

Rodrigues spokesman Sean Fitzgerald called it an “alternative energy fact finding trip.”

In an email late Friday, Fitzgerald called the visit “part of a broader strategy to explore affordable, sustainable, and renewable forms of carbon-free energy” and said the legislators planned to tour the HQ James Bay Generating Facility, which is part of Hydro-Québec’s operations. 

“The facility is a two-hour propeller plane flight out of Montreal and is one of several options to ensure the availability and viability of New England’s energy future,” Fitzgerald said. “With uncertainty at the federal government occurring in all sectors of the American economy, it is especially important to maintain the partnership with Hydro Quebec as one avenue to help meet the Commonwealth’s renewable energy goals and future grid demand.”

The trip comes as state energy policies shaped through a series of clean energy laws are suddenly at odds with the new direction of federal energy policy under President Donald Trump.

State policies are geared toward compliance with strict carbon emission reduction mandates, while US Energy Secretary Chris Wright this week emphasized “the critical role of fossil fuels in meeting global energy demands,” according to the energy department, and hyped the the need to “end the Biden administration’s irrational, quasi-religious policies on climate change that imposed endless sacrifices on our citizens.”

In the last week, the US Department of the Interior approved a plan to extend the operational life of Montana’s Spring Creek Mine by 16 years, enabling the production of nearly 40 million tons of coal. The US Department of Energy signed a major liquefied natural gas export permit approval, the White House said, and the Environmental Protection Agency launched the “biggest day of deregulation in American history.”

State officials in Massachusetts also face new and serious questions about federal support for ongoing and future clean energy efforts. As Trump looks to build jobs in fossil fuel-based energy, plans in Massachusetts to grow jobs and produce a major new supply of clean power through offshore wind projects are in doubt.

Sen. Ed Markey and eight other US senators released a letter Friday demanding that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin “cease his illegal witch hunt to claw back nearly $20 billion in congressionally appropriated and legally obligated funds that underpin the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.” The fund is designed to “spur economic development, lower energy costs, and reduce pollution,” Markey said.

Ana Vivas, a spokeswoman for Mariano, said in an email Thursday night that legislators planned to visit the Hydro-Québec Research Institute, the dikes, dam and spillway that are part of the Robert-Bourassa hydroelectric facilities, and an underground generating station that she said are part of “the largest hydroelectric facility in North America” and include a dedicated transmission line to Ayer, Massachusetts.

Budget hearings paused after a March 10 hearing in Gloucester and will resume March 24 in Amherst, starting a string of four budget hearings in six business days. After two final budget hearings in April, the House Ways and Means Committee plans to release its redraft of Gov. Maura Healey’s $62 billion budget during the week of April 14, with floor debate scheduled for the week of April 28.  Healey filed her budget Jan. 22. The Legislature has made a habit of not completing annual budget by the July 1 start of the fiscal year.

Rodrigues, Sens. John Cronin and Jacob Oliveira were on the trip, according to Fitzgerald. Cronin is a member of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.

House members who went on the Canada trip included Rep. Mark Cusack, the new House chair of the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, and vice chair Rep. Michael Kushmerek. Senate co-chair Sen. Michael Barrett and vice chair Michael Brady were not listed as trip participants.

Rep. Jeff Roy, who Mariano moved off his former Energy Committee chairmanship and up into his leadership team, was also on the trip to Canada. Roy has been the focus of Boston Globe reporting over his relationship with an energy sector lobbyist.

The other House members who went to Canada, according to Vivas, are Ways and Means Committee Chair Aaron Michlewitz, Rep. Danielle Gregoire, Rep. Kathy LaNatra, Rep. Meghan Kilcoyne and Rep. Michael Finn. None of those representatives are among the House members of the Energy Committee.

Fitzgerald said senators on the trip were responsible for paying for transportation, lodging and expenses.

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THE MASSACHUSETTS FISCAL ALLIANCE’S recent critique of the state’s pending clean energy legislation regarding battery storage procurement is heavy on alarmism and light on accuracy. As we navigate one of the most critical energy and infrastructure transitions in history, the conversation around costs and benefits must be rooted in facts—not misinformation and back-of-the-envelope calculations designed to undermine progress.

The laughable $500,000 per megawatt-hour figure cited in the op-ed is misleadingly high, at more than double the real cost. Once you realize this first number is grossly inaccurate, the rest of the math falls apart. In addition, storage technologies are projected to become significantly more affordable in the coming years. Early investments in storage will help Massachusetts capitalize on these cost reductions while building a robust, future-ready grid.

The Fiscal Alliance also misrepresents energy storage’s critical role in modernizing our energy grid, saving customers money, and achieving climate goals. The op-ed pushes for transparency in one breath while spreading disinformation with the next. The bill doesn’t direct utilities to buy storage equipment at a fake, inflated price. It calls for a cost-effective contract for storage services. The claim that energy storage is a “tiny bit of storage useless for backing up solar and wind” is factually incorrect and strategically shortsighted.

Here’s why.

Energy storage isn’t just a support mechanism—it’s a cornerstone of a clean energy grid. Storage allows us to capture energy produced by renewables during peak production times and deploy it when demand is highest. This prevents the costly dumping of renewable energy and mitigates grid congestion, which studies by ISO New England, which oversees the region’s power grid, have shown can drive up electricity costs and reduce the value of renewable investments. Without adequate storage, we risk curtailing renewable energy generation, losing both its economic and environmental benefits.

Strategically located energy storage projects also help avoid costly upgrades to transmission and distribution systems, directly saving ratepayers money. The Fiscal Alliance’s failure to acknowledge these grid-wide benefits misses the bigger picture: Storage lowers long-term system costs and increases the reliability of our electricity grid.

Energy storage offers another critical benefit: displacing the state’s aging fleet of fossil-fueled peaker plants, which operate at high costs and emit disproportionately large amounts of greenhouse gases and harmful pollutants. These plants, often located in vulnerable communities that have been suffering for decades under the cloud of the dirtiest power plants, contribute to elevated rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. 

These redline communities are documented to experience more frequent and prolonged power outages due to decades of underinvestment. Again, this adds to health and economic inequities. Transitioning to clean energy storage reduces local air pollution and improves public health—outcomes that should be part of any honest cost-benefit analysis.

Critics conveniently ignore these health and environmental benefits while focusing exclusively on upfront costs. Yet, the avoided health care costs, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and improved quality of life for residents far outweigh these initial investments. Massachusetts residents deserve to have all the facts, not just selective numbers designed to provoke fear.

The op-ed’s claim that batteries would leave us “freezing all night” on cold, windless evenings misrepresents the role of storage in addressing winter reliability. New England’s current reliance on fossil-fueled plants for winter energy security comes with significant risks, including price volatility and supply constraints for natural gas.

Accelerating the deployment of energy storage enhances reliability by lessening dependence on these commodities, particularly during extreme weather events. Storage paired with renewables is not a standalone solution but an important piece of the puzzle in creating a diversified energy system that is more affordable for taxpayers.

The Fiscal Alliance is urging transparency about costs—but the conversation must also address the costs of inaction. Failing to invest in clean energy infrastructure will perpetuate reliance on expensive, polluting fossil fuels, leaving taxpayers to bear the financial and human costs of climate disasters, increased health care expenses, and food system disruptions caused by extreme weather. The costs of wildfires, floods, and droughts—all exacerbated by climate change—are already being paid by Massachusetts residents in real dollars and lost jobs. Addressing these challenges proactively through smart investments in clean energy and storage is the fiscally responsible path forward.

Massachusetts has always been a leader in innovation, and this legislation continues that tradition by making strategic investments in storage, renewables, and grid modernization. The benefits of these investments—lower emissions, improved health outcomes, and a more reliable energy system—far outweigh the costs. But to realize these benefits, we must have honest conversations and we must reject misinformation and focus on honest, data-driven solutions.

Francis Pullaro is president of Renew Northeast. Joe Curtatone is president of the Alliance for Climate Transition.

The post Setting the record straight on energy storage and clean energy costs appeared first on CommonWealth Beacon.

SIGNIFICANT OBSTACLES are looming in the Northeast’s attempts to reduce its carbon footprint.

News that New York won’t reach its short-term emissions reductions goals, for example, should be a wake-up call for regulators who face consistent pressure to speed up the clean energy evolution while squeezing utilities’ ability to recover the cost for the very infrastructure upgrades necessary to safeguard reliability and economic vitality.

Meanwhile, in Connecticut, relations between utilities and a regulator have deteriorated significantly, imperiling millions in critical investments without which the grid won’t be able to accommodate rising power demands driven by electrification.

In Massachusetts, the state Legislature’s failure to address the Commonwealth’s byzantine energy infrastructure permitting and siting rules before ending its formal session last month risks delaying – or even derailing – the work that must begin soon to keep the state on track toward its decarbonization goals.

To regain a sure footing and ensure forward momentum, states must ensure regulatory stability, fostering a positive climate that preserves utilities’ ability to raise the capital needed to fund infrastructure investments without sacrificing customer affordability and reliability.

The Bay State’s Electric Sector Modernization Plan process tasked utilities with developing investment strategies that accommodate growth while ensuring customers are not further overburdened by cost. Essential to that has been the requirement that utilities bring stakeholders — developers, community activists, environmental justice advocates, business leaders and more — to the table when developing those plans so they address the needs of communities across the Commonwealth.

A healthy regulatory environment — one in which the state and utilities are open to honest discussion about balancing long-term projects and consumer costs — attracts capital investment that fuels infrastructure development. Thus far, Massachusetts is sending a positive signal to the market that stands in contrast to its neighbors. Hopefully, this continues.

There are troubling indications of what will happen if it doesn’t. In Connecticut, Eversource was forced this year to cancel $500 million in planned infrastructure projects after state regulators scaled back its latest rate request. Moody’s later downgraded the utility’s rating outlook, citing “an inconsistent and unpredictable regulatory environment” as a key deciding factor.

That downgrade will undoubtedly impact the utility’s ability to raise capital for clean energy projects and grid improvements, by making the utilities’ borrowing costs higher, which ends up being passed on to ratepayers.

Rather than learn from the lesson about the cascading problems that stem from creating a harsh regulatory climate, Connecticut’s Public Utility Regulatory Authority remains locked in a pitched battled with Avangrid over whether the PURA chairwoman has put her thumb on the scale of what is supposed to be an objective, independent review of a gas rate case. The ultimate outcome may not matter here. The skirmish itself only adds to the narrative about the state’s “inconsistent and unpredictable regulatory environment.” 

To the west, New York has attracted significant investment in growth industries like semiconductors and data centers, in part because of a promise of abundant power around the state, which already benefits from diverse generation sources. But cracks are showing as the governor has now admitted the state won’t meet its ambitious goals on the originally established timeline, citing rising costs and interest rates. Additionally, a state comptroller audit determined that regulators relied on outdated data and made miscalculations about the Empire State’s ability to achieve its climate law’s energy mandates. Reality, physics and cost is crashing headlong in ambition.

An unstable regulatory environment only makes it harder to realize state efforts to bring renewables online. Ultimately, consumers will suffer — not only through higher power bills, but also discontinued investment in critical infrastructure.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has acknowledged the connection between a strong credit rating and the ability to fund projects. Speaking to the Boston Chamber of Commerce in March about building new affordable housing, she said the Commonwealth’s bond rating serves to “unlock important capital investment opportunities in the fundamentals that will ensure our future success.”

The same is true for unlocking investment in energy infrastructure necessary to reach the Commonwealth’s renewable energy goals.

Nearly every state across the region has claimed to be nation-leading in setting clean energy and carbon footprint reduction goals. Massachusetts is poised to claim that mantle, as long as it keeps doing what’s necessary to assure investors that major infrastructure plans aren’t being built on top of shifting sands.

Marc Brown is vice president, state affairs, at Consumer Energy Alliance.

The post Look around, barriers to clean energy development not hard to find appeared first on CommonWealth Beacon.

The town of Somerset is pursuing a criminal complaint – and more than $3 million in fines – in connection with a zoning dispute involving the company that owns Brayton Point, a 300-acre property that hopes to become a staging point for the state’s emerging offshore wind industry.

Somerset officials say a private criminal complaint was issued last year against Brayton Point LLC, an affiliate of St. Louis-based Commercial Development Inc. Brayton Point LLC was arraigned on January 4 in Fall River District Court and a pre-trial conference is scheduled for early March, according to Arthur Frank, an attorney hired by the town.

Frank said Somerset’s unusual legal battle with its largest property owner came about because of the state’s Zoning Enabling Act, which allows municipalities to collect fines for violations of bylaws but provides only three ways for fines to be collected – via an indictment in Superior Court, a complaint in District Court, or noncriminal disposition. Frank said he concluded the best option for Somerset was to pursue a private criminal complaint in District Court.

Brayton Point LLC originally came to Somerset as something of a white knight. It purchased the waterfront property, razed what had been one of New England’s coal-fired power plants, and set about transforming the property into a staging area for the emerging offshore wind industry.

But a near two-year delay in the permitting of offshore wind farms by the Trump administration led Brayton Point LLC to lease a portion of its empty property to a scrap metal exporter and a road salt distributor – noisy, dirty businesses that polarized the community and led to an all-out political and legal war.

For several years, Somerset and Brayton Point LLC fought over the company’s decision to allow the scrap metal export business to keep operating at the waterfront property despite a cease-and-desist order from the municipality’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

Once a Land Court judge ordered the scrap metal business shut down in March 2022, town officials demanded payment of fines that had been racking up at a rate of $300 for each offense.  The town estimates roughly 11,000 trucks carrying scrap metal entered the facility during the period covered by the cease-and-desist order. At $300 per truck, that adds up to nearly $3.3 million in fines.

Brayton Point has not filed a response to the complaint yet, but Frank said the company believes the most it can be fined is $300 per day, not $300 per truck. In January 2023, an attorney for Brayton Point LLC wrote a letter to the town in which he said the fines would not hold up in court. He offered to pay $15,000 to make the dispute go away.

Company officials say they plan to file a response to the private criminal complaint in the next couple of weeks.

The legal skirmishing over the fines at one point threatened to derail plans by the Prysmian Group to build a subsea cable manufacturing plant at Brayton Point to serve the offshore wind industry. Ultimately, however, the fines and the permits were dealt with separately, according to town officials. Prysmian, after a series of bruising hearings last year, now has most of the permits it needs to purchase land at Brayton Point and begin construction.

The post Somerset files criminal complaint against town’s largest land owner appeared first on CommonWealth Beacon.

THE CLIMATE AND ENERGY bill sitting on the governor’s desk contains two policy sections that could open the door to clean energy procurements involving onshore wind from Maine and nuclear power from Connecticut, according to one of the key drafters of the legislation. 

Rep. Jeffrey Roy of Franklin, the House chair of the Legislature’s Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee, said the sections are designed to help the state begin exploring new ways to procure clean energy to meet emission targets, particularly if the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upholds a referendum vote blocking a transmission line importing hydroelectricity from Quebec.

The two sections are worded broadly, and don’t mention Maine or Connecticut. Senate and Baker administration officials said they were unfamiliar with any specific plans for procuring clean energy from Maine or Connecticut.

 Roy, however, said the sections give state officials flexibility to work with other states in contracting for clean energy. He said the sections were drafted with Maine and Connecticut in mind.

One section directs the Department of Energy Resources, in consultation with the attorney general’s office, to decide by December 31 whether to enter into a long-term contract for clean energy from projects coming on line this year or later. Roy said a proposed onshore wind farm in northern Maine’s Aroostook County could fit the bill.

The other section directs the secretary of energy and environmental affairs to conduct a study by March 31 exploring regional or multi-state efforts to procure long-term contracts for clean energy or participate in market-building efforts by the operator of the New England power grid to find ways to reduce emissions.

Roy said the section could open the door to procurements of nuclear power from Millstone Station in Connecticut. Millstone supplies a large amount of the region’s carbon-free energy but is facing competitive pressures from cheaper gas-fired power plants.

Connecticut’s two utilities purchased nearly half of the plant’s output under 10-year contracts that began in 2019. Roy said Massachusetts may decide to do the same. 

Contracting with Millstone would not lead to the generation of new carbon-free energy, but it would give Massachusetts the ability to claim the clean energy as its own in terms of meeting emission targets. To qualify, however, Massachusetts law would have to be changed to qualify nuclear power as renewable.

Weezie Nuara, state policy director for New England at Dominion Energy, the owner of Millstone, said the Massachusetts provisions are vaguely worded. 

“It’s not exactly spelled out,” she said of the provision’s intent. “But we’re excited to be part of the conversation.”

Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association, is interested in the same provision, suggesting its reference to market-building mechanisms might be something his members would favor. For example, he said many of his members favor a carbon tax.

The post Is Mass. eyeing out-of-state nuke, wind power for clean energy?  appeared first on CommonWealth Beacon.

TRANSPORTATION IS THE largest source of carbon pollution in the Commonwealth, producing 40 percent of climate-disrupting greenhouse gas emissions. Cities and towns can play an important role in leading the way to a clean transportation future. How? By helping residents drive less, and switch to electric vehicles when they must continue to drive.

While the number of people using transit, biking, and walking has steadily increased over the years, personal vehicle use still accounts for about 70 percent of all trips in Massachusetts. For this reason, it is crucial that we take steps to reduce vehicle emissions.

Vehicles that run on fossil fuels release high levels of particulate matter and toxins that increase the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, including in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.  Springfield was recently named the 2018 asthma capital of the nation, with Boston and Worcester ranking 11^th and 12^th in asthma prevalence and asthma-related emergency room visits.

If we are to improve air quality, health, and the well-being of residents across the state, we must transition our municipal vehicle fleets as well as our personal vehicles from fossil fuels to electricity.

Cars powered by electricity have zero tailpipe emissions and provide significant reductions in air pollutants. They also get cleaner over time, because our electric grid is powered by more renewable energy every year.

In 2013, Massachusetts signed an eight-state Memorandum of Understanding that commits us to getting 300,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2025. Right now, Massachusetts is only at 12,000.

To accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, Braintree is leading by example. Braintree already has nine electric vehicles in its municipal fleet and six charging stations accessible to residents — and the city is looking to add more of each. Through a local initiative, Braintree Drives Electric (BDE), the city is raising awareness about the benefits and economic incentives of driving electric vehicles. Residents are encouraged to sign up for free at-home test drives, and to attend ride and drive events. Local businesses can access information and support to install workplace chargers. Since the launch of the BDE program in 2016, Braintree has seen an 840 percent increase in electric vehicle adoption, from 10 vehicles to 84 amongst its residents and municipal fleet.

The City of Newton has committed to replacing all its municipal sedans with electric vehicles. Newton’s Department of Public Works alone anticipates adding more than 30 electric vehicles over the next 10 years. The City has also installed EV chargers at City Hall and two other locations and has selected additional charging installations for use by the public, Newton employees, and the city EV fleet.  The city also plans to create preferential designated parking spaces in public lots for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles and for electric vehicle car-share programs.

Residents in Massachusetts interested in making their next car electric can learn more about electric vehicles at ride and drive events across Massachusetts during National Drive Electric Week from September 8-16.  Car buyers can take advantage of a state rebate of up to $2,500 and a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 to purchase or lease an electric vehicle. Cities and towns in Eversource service areas can now also make use of the $45 million available through the utility’s “Make Ready” program to install publicly available charging infrastructure in their communities, encouraging more drivers to go electric. Newton has applied to “Make Ready” and is meeting Eversource engineers shortly to begin the design for four installations under the program. National Grid is expected to gain approval for a similar program.

The cleanest transportation options are the ones that involve no fuel at all, such as walking or biking. But for those who must drive, we must make it easier to switch to an EV. We must also electrify our bus fleets, as well as our subways and commuter trains. This will require investment and it’s well worth it.

It is time for Massachusetts to lead on reducing emissions from the transportation sector by creating policies and incentive structures to boost our state to the forefront of the EV revolution.

Ruthanne Fuller is mayor of Newton. Joseph Sullivan is the mayor of Braintree and a member of the state Department of Transportation’s Board of Directors.

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Well-intentioned law has been corrupted by con men

BY DANIEL STEVENS

AS SUMMER SWINGS into high gear, our electric bills do, too. Modern life dictates that we need power to keep us cool. To try and reduce electricity prices for people living in Massachusetts, a few years ago, the state Legislature created a program called the competitive electric supply market, giving residents options to choose their electricity company.

According to Maura Healey, the Attorney General of Massachusetts, between 2015 and March of this year, residents who abandoned the state’s utilities paid more for their power than they would have if they had stayed put.  At a press conference calling for the termination of the competitive electricity program, the Attorney General said: “In two years, Massachusetts residents lost over $176 million to these predatory companies. I’m calling for an end to this industry because that’s the best way to protect our seniors, low-income residents, and minority communities from these persistent scams.”

The problem with the competitive electric supply market is shady power companies use door-to-door salesforces that promise their customers lower energy prices but fail to deliver. What is so tragic about this situation is that the fraudster energy companies are targeting the least sophisticated customers who can ill afford to pay higher electricity prices. Sadly, Massachusetts isn’t the only state in New England dealing with the problem of disreputable electricity companies.

Recent reports out of Maine detail a class-action lawsuit filed against a company called Electricity Maine. The suit alleges that employees from Electricity Maine went door-to-door in several cities posing as auditors for the Central Maine Power Company, the regional utility. These “auditors” stated they were there to ensure customers were not being overcharged. Then, these fake auditors convinced customers to sign up for power from Electricity Maine, a company that charges more for electricity than Central Maine Power. In fact, according to media reports, customers in Maine “from 2012 to 2016 paid $77 million more to retail suppliers than they would have under the standard rate negotiated by regulators.”

My organization, a corporate and government watchdog, is no stranger to businesses in the electricity markets that rip off their customers. For two years now, we have been closely tracking rooftop solar companies. Similar to how the competitive electric supply market created opportunities for crooks to overcharge people for electricity, government incentives for putting solar panels on homes also created an industry of bad actors that mislead customers on the savings they will accrue with rooftop solar panels.

Despite the leadership from Healey to protect customers from crooks that sell overpriced electricity and rooftop solar panels, neither Gov. Charlie Baker, nor the Legislature, have taken any serious steps to protect consumers in their state from shady salesforces in the electricity markets. The legislators will likely adjourn for the year soon. Before they do, we hope they will take up efforts to protect consumers, so residents of Massachusetts won’t have to spend millions of more dollars on overpriced electricity.

Daniel Stevens is the executive director of Campaign for Accountability, a government watchdog group in Washington, D.C. 

Killing industry would cut choices for Mass. users

By TOM MATZZIE

MASSACHUSETTS IS A national clean energy leader. The state has expanded clean energy choices, increased incentives for renewable energy, encouraged development of wind, solar among other clean energy resources, and set the ambitious goals of reducing climate emissions by 80 percent by 2050. That leadership has delivered cleaner air and water, expanded consumer power in the energy marketplace, and resulted in a more resilient electric grid.

Furthermore, Massachusetts’s push for clean energy has increased the creation of in-state jobs—a lot of jobs. The latest Solar Foundation report shows the Bay State ranks second (behind only California) with more than 11,000 solar jobs and even more job potential with the state’s wind industry poised for success.

Much of the state’s renewable energy success has come from allowing people the freedom to switch to 100 percent clean energy by choosing to buy from a Renewable Competitive Supplier, such as CleanChoice Energy. Renewable Competitive Suppliers offer the millions of Massachusetts residents who want to do their part for climate but don’t have a roof for suitable for solar, the chance to get 100 percent renewable solar and wind through the retail electricity market. When a customer purchases renewable energy from a Renewable Competitive Supplier, the Supplier ensures that the electricity the customer uses is matched to clean energy sources with Renewable Energy Certificates. It’s easy, convenient, and is a choice that is made by hundreds of thousands of Americans each year. 

Just as some consumers choose to buy electric vehicles or organic foods, all Bay Staters should be free to buy electricity that reflects their values, promotes renewable energy, and fights climate change. CleanChoice Energy customers alone have saved the equivalent of 35 millions pounds of coal from being burned by switching to 100 percent renewable energy.

While Renewable Competitive Suppliers have made a positive impact, too many bad actors in the energy service provider industry have pursued sales practices that have called into question the credibility of the entire retail electricity market. Those bad actors threaten to undermine the ability of good-faith Renewable Competitive Suppliers to continue to deliver clean energy to Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey recently released a report that focuses on the worst practices and the worst of the bad actors in the retail electricity industry—and calls to end the industry altogether. This would be a grave mistake.

Without a free retail electricity market, hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents would not be empowered to choose their electricity mix. Installing rooftop solar is a great option for homeowners who own their own (non-shaded) roof, but that is only available to a small percentage of residents. Community solar is a growing opportunity, but there is only a limited number of projects available.

While some customers also have access to municipal aggregations, 78 percent of municipal aggregations do not offer 100 percent renewable energy as the default option, contributing to the frustration of at least 74 percent of residents who are interested in wholly sourcing their energy from renewables.

Massachusetts residents deserve a market where they are treated fairly and can purchase the clean energy they need to fight climate change without getting stabbed in the back by shady sales people. Protecting consumers from unethical rate increases, making pricing and contract terms more transparent, and setting strong standard for renewable energy are among the reforms needed.

We urge decision makers to take steps to protect consumers from bad practices and increase price transparency. We support efforts to create a fairer, more transparent marketplace that enhances consumer protection and stops sales practices that hurt consumers.

However, we should beware of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Ending the competitive retail electricity market will negate the forward progress made by the state. It would also be very unpopular. New polling shows that Massachusetts residents overwhelmingly want to be able to continue to be able to choose their energy supplier, choose clean energy, and want more renewable energy in the Massachusetts power system. Renewable Competitive Suppliers give Massachusetts customers power to decide how to spend their energy dollars and support the development and construction of new renewable energy projects in the region.

Keep Massachusetts the clean energy leader it currently is. Position the state to reach its emissions aspirations. Preserve the open energy market and let the people choose.

Tom Matzzie is CEO and founder of CleanChoice Energy based in Washington, D.C.  

The post Electricity trick or treat? appeared first on CommonWealth Beacon.

ACROSS MASSACHUSETTS, COMMUNITIES are taking control over where their energy comes from. By leveraging local bulk purchasing power, more than 100 towns and cities in the Bay State have increased the amount of renewable energy they buy each year, while at the same time producing savings for consumers.

Community Choice Energy (CCE, also known as “community choice aggregation” or “municipal aggregation”) is an important tool for communities to meet their energy needs, to make progress on their climate goals, and – according to new research – to save money. Compared to Eversource’s basic service rates for January through June 2018, communities with a CCE program will save consumers an average of nearly 20 percent, according to the Tufts Applied Economics Clinic. That’s a substantial increase from a 2 percent savings in 2017, suggesting that CCE provides not only a pathway to cleaner energy, but also long-term savings for consumers.

With Washington abdicating leadership, and even actively working to undermine progress on climate and clean energy, state and local action is more important than ever. While CCE benefits local businesses and residents by giving them a say in where their energy comes from and often reducing energy bills, the benefits extend far beyond those communities. These benefits include bringing cleaner, more sustainable energy to the region, reducing our carbon footprint, and improving health outcomes by lessening fossil fuel pollution. Clean energy is also an important part of the innovative economy of the future, keeping our energy dollars in our own region and fueling jobs and economic growth close to home.

Thanks to advocacy by local groups including the Boston Climate Action Network and the Green Justice Coalition, along with strong leadership on the Boston City Council, a proposal for Boston to implement Community Choice Energy was unanimously approved in October 2017. This is an exciting and important step for Boston to take as it implements Mayor Marty Walsh’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2050.

As the largest metro area in the state, Boston must play a leading role in meeting our climate goals as a state, while also reducing emissions and increasing resiliency in the city. Through CCE, Boston can expect to increase its clean energy portfolio by at least 5 percent, helping to reach its goal of a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. A report investigating the potential of CCE for the city of Boston shows that while CCE is but one of many steps that the city must take to address climate change, it is an important one that has been proven by many neighboring communities.

While CCE is not a silver bullet – and there are many additional tools we can and must do – it is clearly a tool that more municipalities should adopt. And we need more policies that make it easier for communities to adopt CCE as part of broader efforts to ensure our city is more independent and resilient, and is reaping the benefits of the clean energy boom.

The recent wave of adoption of Community Choice Energy is something worth celebrating. These wins demonstrate that strong leadership and action can still drive change at the local level and represent an important move towards democratizing our energy consumption by giving local communities a say. Now more than ever, legislators and other public officials need to play a key role in continuing to advance policies like CCE to unleash the full potential we have in the Commonwealth to stem the effects of climate change and position Massachusetts as a leader in renewable energy.

Communities, business and labor leaders will all be watching closely for Boston and other cities to implement these policies as swiftly and effectively as possible – especially when savings are on the table for consumers. Community Choice Energy is a clear pathway to cleaner, more local energy, and now we must take it. 

Darlene Lombos is Executive Director of Community Labor United. She also serves as Vice President of the Greater Boston Labor Council.

The post With more control, communities choose clean energy appeared first on CommonWealth Beacon.

He may still be the most popular governor in the country, but over the last few weeks Baker has hit some serious turbulence. An agency he controls botched the rollout of a new approach to health insurance for 430,000 state and municipal workers. Then his administration awarded the largest clean energy procurement in state history to a controversial project that was knocked out of contention on Thursday by New Hampshire regulators.

Steve Wynn’s plummeting fortunes are hardly Baker’s doing, but the fallout from the Las Vegas casino mogul’s alleged sexual misconduct could have profound repercussions for the Wynn casino going up in Everett. It’s an awkward situation for a governor who met privately with Wynn in Las Vegas in October and who in November was praised by Wynn as a “grounded, sensitive, intelligent man.”

The clean energy procurement, an expensive linchpin in the state’s bid to diversify and decarbonize its energy sources, is a puzzling self-inflicted wound. The Baker administration chose Northern Pass, perhaps the most controversial proposal of the 46 that came in, and insisted the project would win a permit it needed to build a transmission line from the Canadian border to southern New Hampshire. But on Thursday a regulatory agency in the Granite State summarily shot the project down saying it would have a negative impact on tourism, property values, and land use.

The retreat on the health insurance proposal was troubling on several fronts. The Group Insurance Commission is the largest purchaser of health care in the state, and a great place to set the tone for the state’s efforts to rein in the cost of health care. The agency’s staff proposed streamlining the number of carriers without sacrificing access to doctors and other health care providers, a move that was expected to save $21 million.

The plan was approved by the Group Insurance Commission board on January 18, but the lack of advance notice and public vetting caused widespread panic among workers that they would lose access to their doctors and health care providers. At that point, “trust me” was not an option for the commission, so on Thursday the agency reversed course and settled for the status quo. (Or, as commission members said, they opted for a triple rather than a homerun.)

It was telling moment for Baker and his administration. Would the governor fight for the original plan, or would he back down in the face of strong union opposition?

Here’s what he told a caller (10:40) to radio station WAAF. “I actually think the intent of this was noble, which was to find a way to save money. So they came up with a proposal which would reduce the number of health plans offered by the Group Insurance Commission to state employees and retirees from six to three, as Michelle [a caller into the show] said, and they did it in a way so they made sure that nobody was going to lose their doctor, everybody would still have access to the same networks, the benefits would still be the same, but the cost to employees or retirees would not go up by as much as it would if they just left that the way it was. That all by itself, I think, is all sort of the right way to think about this, but she’s absolutely right about the way the rollout worked.”

Michael Heffernan, Baker’s secretary of administration and finance, sits on the GIC board. On Thursday he seconded the motion to reconsider the earlier vote that green-lighted the new approach and then voted to return to the status quo. He praised Roberta Herman, the executive director of the Group Insurance Commission, saying “we’re lucky to have her.” But he said he wouldn’t be voting to back her policy because it was first necessary to restore the peace of mind of the state and municipal workers who purchase health insurance through the GIC.

I tried to talk with Heffernan after the vote. Facing each other across a desk, he held up a finger suggesting he needed a minute before he could talk. Then he ducked into a back room and then out a side door. Before I could catch up with him, he had stepped into an elevator whose door was closing. Sometimes actions speak louder than words.

BRUCE MOHL

BEACON HILL

The Group Insurance Commission abandoned an ambitious plan to reduce the number of insurance carriers offering health plans to some 430,000 state and municipal workers across the state. The consensus seemed to be that the plan had merit and would save $21 million, but it had to be scrapped because its rollout was botched, causing panic and eroding the trust of customers in the commission. (CommonWealth)

A Herald editorial suggests Beacon Hill lawmakers are kidding themselves if they think they’ll bring health care costs down without taking up things like Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed MassHealth reforms, which were conspicuously absent from the House agenda-setting speech given this week by Speaker Robert DeLeo.

The House signed off on raises for child welfare lawyers to lure more of them to western Massachusetts. (State House News)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia, who admitted last September he is the focus of a federal probe, has set up a legal defense fund, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. (State House News)

Framingham city councilors are upset that Mayor Yvonne Spicer created and filled two senior-level positions without seeking the council’s approval. (MetroWest Daily News)

Knitted hats left on Boston Common provide a gesture of warmth for the homeless. (CommonWealth)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Hullabaloo over releasing the classified memo detailing alleged surveillance abuses by the FBI overshadowed other topics at Republicans’ annual policy retreat in West Virginia. (Boston Globe)

The Arizona House of Representatives voted to expel Rep. Don Shooter over sexual harassment accusations. (Associated Press)

ELECTIONS

Identity politics are emerging as the major divide in the Democratic primary race between US Rep. Michael Capuano and challenger Ayanna Pressley. (Boston Herald, Boston Globe)

It looks like state reps. Nick Collins of South Boston and Evandro Carvalho of Dorchester will be in the Democratic primary special election for the state Senate seat vacated last week by Linda Forry. (Boston Globe)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

The nation’s economy added 200,000 jobs in January, the 88th consecutive month of job growth, which is the longest streak on record, and the unemployment rate stayed steady at 4.1 percent but wages continue to stagnate. (New York Times)

A Globe editorial says it’s time to revisit a 1996 federal communications act that provides cover for sites like Facebook to allow advertisers to deny equal access to job listings by microtargeting listings to specific demographic groups.

Hobby Lobby, the controversial retail chain that invoked religious freedom in a challenge to the birth control coverage mandate in Obamacare, is planning to open a store in Braintree. (Patriot Ledger)

EDUCATION

Scot Lehigh says Jeff Riley was the right pick for the state education commissioner’s post. (Boston Globe)

The state’s school building assistance authority is sending Lowell officials back to the drawing board to remove plans for a swimming pool from the city’s plan for a new high school, a move that will delay the project until at least August 2019. (Boston Herald)

The number of foreign students in the US dropped for the first time in five years, with some speculating it’s the result of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric in the 2016 campaign. (Boston Globe)

Andover High hockey coach Christopher Kuchar is on administrative leave while the state Department of Children and Families investigates allegations that he withheld food and water from players after losses. It turns out the superintendent of the Andover school system, Sheldon Berman, wrote a letter to school officials two years ago complaining about his son’s treatment on the team. (Eagle-Tribune) Ted Teicher, a school committee member who feels Kuchar is being railroaded, said he wants Berman investigated. (Eagle-Tribune)

The Disability Law Center of Boston issued a report saying the Crowell Kindergarten Center in Haverhill mistreated students, including putting them in restraints. (Eagle-Tribune)

The Worcester School Department, angry at the lack of state funding, threatens to take the state to court. (Telegram & Gazette)

TRANSPORTATION

The head of the Worcester Regional Transit Authority, under fire for its service, said the agency is doing the best it can with the resources it has. (Telegram & Gazette)

With the Wollaston Red Line stop already closed for the next 19 months for upgrades, the MBTA is promising Quincy residents they will have a plan to handle the loss of nearly 500 parking spots at the North Quincy station when construction of a major development begins there in May. (Patriot Ledger)

Middleboro selectmen gave reluctant approval to a state plan for a temporary fix to the congestion caused by the rotary at Routes 44 and 18 but insist a permanent solution such as a proposed “flyover” needs to move forward quickly. (The Enterprise)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

New Hampshire regulators gave a thumbs down to Northern Pass, delivering a stunning blow to Massachusetts’ massive clean energy procurement. (CommonWealth) The seven members of the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee said the project, a joint effort of Eversource Energy and Hydro-Quebec, had failed to demonstrate that the transmission line through New Hampshire would not “unduly interfere with the orderly development of the region.” (Union Leader)

A coyote hunt on Cape Cod sponsored by a local outfitting company has spawned a heated debate over the ethics of the contest, with many noting it is not an effective population control for the species. (Cape Cod Times)

The Buzzards Bay Coalition has filed suit against the town of Marion, saying the municipality’s unlined “sewage lagoons” are leaking up to 50,000 gallons a day of untreated sewage into the bay. (Standard-Times)

Nomans Land Island in Chilmark will become a bunny sanctuary as federal wildlife officials plan to release cottontail rabbits on the 600-acre island in an attempt to boost the at-risk species population in New England. (Cape Cod Times)

CASINOS

There seems to be a growing consensus among those who follow the gambling industry that Steve Wynn, facing allegations of sexual misconduct, will need to leave his post as CEO of Wynn Resorts if the company is to retain its license to open its Everett casino now under construction. (Boston Globe) US Rep. Michael Capuano says there should be a backup plan to keep the project going if the state pulls Wynn’s license. (Boston Herald) CommonWealth’s Bruce Mohl and Shirley Leung and Nestor Ramos of the Globe give their takes on whether the project survives, with the two Globe columnists predicting Wynn will be ousted but the casino remains while Mohl says the license could be revoked. (Greater Boston)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

Two East Bridgewater women were arrested and charged with permanently disfiguring a 5-year-old girl during a Voodoo ritual and threatening her 8-year-old brother with a knife. Police said the women performed the ritual, which left a 3rd-degree burn on the girl’s face, at the request of the mother, who has since been committed to Pembroke Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. (The Enterprise)

MEDIA

The New York Times will begin using “augmented reality” — an app that allows viewers to place three-dimensional images on their phone and in their surroundings — in the latest attempt by legacy media to use changing technology to capture the new generation of news consumers.

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