Surging energy costs have been a struggle for many customers in Massachusetts this season. State leaders have said they’re looking for ways to lower the bills, but an upcoming decision from the Department of Public Utilities could make things more expensive.
The issue concerns a Three-Year Energy Efficiency Plan, which guides the Mass Save program. DPU is considering a plan for a new $5 billion, three-year proposal, designed to offer incentives to help make Massachusetts more energy efficient.
Mass Save is a program many ratepayers contribute to monthly as a surcharge on electric and gas bills. Those funds are used to offer rebates and incentives to residents and business owners who make their homes and buildings more efficient, including things like insulation, air sealing, heating and cooling equipment upgrades, and new appliances.
The plan aims to reduce gas emissions by 1 million metric tons, including goals like the supporting the installation of heat pumps in nearly 120,000 Massachusetts homes and weatherization in over 180,000 homes. But approval of the new plan could make heating bills – already a topic of discussion this winter – even more expensive.
DPU has already ordered the state’s five gas utilities – National Grid, Eversource, Unitil, Liberty and The Berkshire Gas Company – to lower and defer costs for customers in March and April after concerning jumps in costs, which the agency said could be blamed on a “combination of increased supply costs, the recovery of unusually high programmatic costs through delivery charges, and a cold winter.”
It’s worth noting that the three-year plan was originally submitted in the fall, before the complaints about rising costs began this winter. However, DPU has said that an increase in delivery charges on energy bills stems from increases in the Mass Save budget.
Energy affordability advocates have planned a protest outside DPU in Boston Friday urging officials to reject the plan.