In a post here last week, we detailed why the utility industry’s proposed legislation mandating utility long-term solar energy contract procurement in place of the current competitive customer driven market won’t work. What we didn’t get to then was why the industry proposed it in the first place. It’s clear from the utility’s explanation supporting […]
About a year ago, we reported on an arcane but no less important problem of the inadequate supply of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) for Class II resources. To its credit, the state has moved to address this – through legislation, research and, recently, a new proposal that bears examination. Class II resources are the renewable […]
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 […]
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 […]
