As the two-year legislative session drew to a close this week, there has been a rash of headlines about things state leaders were battling over. Yes, there have been disagreements which have almost derailed important legislation, but we think there is something significant worth noting in where they do agree around reforms to the state’s […]
With the clock ticking away on this legislative session, Massachusetts is again on the verge of passing important legislation which will have a definite impact on the energy marketplace in the Commonwealth. Last week in this space, we called to your attention a proposed amendment to the House of Representatives energy bill which stood to […]
For about 20 years, Massachusetts utilities have been the primary – some would say exclusive – implementer of the state’s energy efficiency programs. Throughout that time, there have been discussions about whether the utilities are the best vehicle to implement programs. Other states have gone the route of what is referred to as the “third […]
New England’s reliance on natural gas for electricity generation has been a subject of debate and concern for over a decade, at least since the burst of new generation facilities after restructuring, leading to our current over 40 percent dependency on gas for power. The concern has been on the supply and cost risks of […]
Massachusetts state Senate began debate last week on Senate Bill 2200, An Act Relative to Competitively Priced Electricity in the Commonwealth—a huge piece of legislation which, among other things, alters parts of the Green Communities Act (GCA). Debate on the bill will resume this week, but it’s worth noting that it has two provisions which have […]
It’s more than a bit ironic that, as a “green revolution” was being declared on Clean Energy Day at the State House Wednesday, NStar utility workers were scrambling to fix a major outage of the distribution system in Boston’s Back Bay. There is a growing disconnect between our focus in the state on green/clean energy […]
