Opinion
By Penni Conner
Eversource commends the Department of Public Utilities for listening to customer concerns about affordability and taking the difficult action on Feb. 28 to order a reduction in the proposed 2025-27 Energy Efficiency and Decarbonization Plan. This is the most immediate step the state can take to provide long-term rate relief to customers and ensure that the pace of the energy transition in Massachusetts is affordable and attainable.
To be clear, we are steadfastly committed to the Mass Save programs, which are essential to meeting the Commonwealth’s decarbonization goals and provide significant benefits to customers and the state as a whole, but this winter’s higher-than-normal natural-gas bills make a revision to this plan imperative at this time.
This is how the collaborative process is intended to work — a wide variety of diverse stakeholders come together to develop a plan aimed at achieving Massachusetts’ ambitious clean-energy targets, and that plan then receives a thorough regulatory review to ensure all aspects of the program respond to customer needs and strike a balance between meeting statewide climate goals, establishing program affordability, providing robust access for customers, and enhancing reliability.
We appreciate the invaluable collaboration of the wide variety of diverse stakeholders on the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council who unanimously supported the proposed plan, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, the Attorney General’s Office, and countless other community, business, and labor stakeholders who provided their input through this process — and we look forward to our continued work together to deliver the nation-leading energy-efficiency programs that reflect our broad support of efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, improve air quality, and advance electrification while also driving down energy usage for customers.
At the same time, this winter’s bills have posed serious challenges and concerns for our customers that reinforce the critical need to maintain affordability and reliability as top priorities in our collective pursuit of the Commonwealth’s energy transition. We will be closely reviewing this order with those priorities top of mind as we work collaboratively to develop a revised plan that best serves all customers and communities.
Massachusetts has been number one in the nation for energy efficiency under previous plans that had lower budgets for these programs, and we’re confident that we can keep the Commonwealth at the national forefront of energy efficiency and decarbonization with a revised plan.
Moving forward, we’re as committed as ever to the collaboration and hard work that will be required to provide impactful, long-term rate relief to customers while also advancing a clean-energy future that addresses climate change. Energy efficiency is just one of many important pieces on that broader path to decarbonization, and collective buy-in is essential for the various solutions that will be needed to achieve our shared goals, including addressing the region’s energy-supply challenges.
Along with a 10% reduction to the total bill through the local distribution adjustment charge that Eversource proposed late last month, customers began seeing lower rates effective March 1. Total estimated bill impacts through the off-peak months for customers as a result of these adjustments are not yet available and will be provided in upcoming regulatory filings.
Eversource encourages customers to take advantage of the many options available to help them manage their energy bills with financial assistance, flexible payment plans, and energy-efficiency programs.
Penni Conner is executive vice president of Customer Experience and Energy Strategy for Eversource.
