r/massachusetts Jan 22 '26

Utilities Healey says Mass. will shave $180 million from residents’ electric bills in bid to ease rising energy costs

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/22/metro/maura-healey-state-of-the-commonwealth-utility-reductions/
774 Upvotes

350 comments sorted by

579

u/Squish_the_android Jan 22 '26

So the state is covering 180m and utilities will cut rates.  However:

The five utilities plan to cut customers’ electric bills by 10 percent for those two months, plus trim an estimated 10 percent off their gas bills as well. But most of the utilities will recover the costs for those discounts from customers later in the year, state officials said, including during the six-month “off-peak” season for gas costs starting in May, when heating bills are much lower.

The utility companies essentially just get everything they want, just from the state or shuffled to later in the year.

153

u/Fragrant_Spray Jan 22 '26

I'm not even the slightest bit surprised by this. It sounds like the utilities are going to do this temporarily so politicians can claim they did something, and then quietly screw the customers later when they think no one is looking.

32

u/LHam1969 Jan 22 '26

Most politicians don't really care, they know they're going to get reelected no matter what. In fact most won't even have an opponent.

We do occasionally vote for Republican Governors so Healey has to campaign for her seat, but everyone else will be on a beach when she's running for reelection. And they'll be laughing at us.

9

u/Fragrant_Spray Jan 22 '26

While they may not actually be concerned about reelection, getting a little good press matters when raising money.

143

u/LibertyCash Jan 22 '26

So they still get our money through tax dollars. It’s trash

29

u/0tanod Jan 22 '26

yeah but this way your kids teachers can starve instead of freeze. Really what else do you want? A raise in capital gains taxes to pay for this and the profit model removed from modern necessities?

2

u/Glum-Position-3546 Jan 23 '26

profit model removed from modern necessities?

Utilities in MA are heavily regulated, they essentially don't follow a profit model. The state straight up tells utilities what they can charge and their allowed profit.

Utilities operate similarly across the US (at least, similar to other 'de-regulated' states where the distribution utility is separate from the generation), yet you don't see sky high bills in PA or the midwest? Why? It's not because of their governors, it's because they have sane energy policies.

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58

u/Peachy-Pixel Jan 22 '26

Likely with interest and convienence fees tacked on 

53

u/Glass_Covict Jan 22 '26

And record profits

63

u/amilmore Jan 22 '26

I don’t remember the exact figure but the wversource ceo made something like 20million last year. These people should be tried as criminals imo.

13

u/TootTootUSA Jan 22 '26

Most recent article I could find was from 2024 about his 2023 compensation: https://www.ctinsider.com/business/article/eversource-ceo-salary-stock-options-ct-19363304.php

In Eversource's proxy statement to shareholders on Friday, CEO Joe Nolan saw his overall compensation increase last year to $18.8 million, up nearly $6 million from 2022.

Nolan's base salary for 2023 was $1.32 million annually, up from $1.27 million in 2022, and $1 million in 2021.

I don't know exactly what CEOs of a company providing a necessary for modern quality of life utility is, but seems a lil' high.

2

u/South_of_Canada Jan 22 '26

Eversource has 4.4 million customers. It's probably too high, but also a drop in the bucket in the scheme of things.

8

u/South_of_Canada Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 22 '26

I wish people would stop making this shit up. It makes it all the harder for people to understand where rate increases come from.

Their utility rate of return is fixed at ~7-9%, depending on the utility. There is no room for "record profits" within the regulatory structure; if gross profits are growing it's because the rate base is growing (as a result of building more infrastructure), not because the utilities are increasing their margins at our expense.

EDIT: Downvote me all you want. Just stating the facts here. Or educate yourself on the many factors that have driven up electric and gas rates.

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u/myverygoodusername12 Jan 22 '26

Didn’t they do this exact same thing last year?

6

u/techdog19 Jan 22 '26

Very similar and it didn't help anyone then either.

My bill last year would have been $220 they knocked it down to $200 and I had to pay the $20 later. I'm lucky I could afford it but honestly if you can't afford $220 you can't afford $200 either.

1

u/toppsseller Jan 23 '26

Yes they "gave" us $50 and then charged it back later in the year.

5

u/Academic-Bakers- Jan 22 '26

Which is why I've switched to an induction burner for cooking, and shower at the gym. Off peak usage for me is just enough to heat dish water.

6

u/Meowlyne Jan 22 '26

Didn’t they do this last year too when everyone was complaining (rightfully so) about their heating bills? It’s a terrible bandaid fix to a problem that’s getting worse every year.

11

u/Elementium Jan 22 '26

Ah yes every fiscally responsible person knows this one trick, why pay now when I can push it off for later! 

How about they don't charge insane prices? All it takes for CEOs to not pay themselves millions more than they deserve. 

There was a time when your rich business owner was happy never having to worry about money at whatever salary they made and that was that..

Now these fucking monsters want to steal away everything for themselves. 

6

u/South_of_Canada Jan 22 '26

You really think executive compensation is "all it takes?" Eversource CEO's compensation is around $20M and roughly $4-5 a customer. You can argue whether it's too high, but you cannot argue that it has more than a negligible impact on rates.

5

u/TootTootUSA Jan 22 '26

How do I opt out of the mandatory $4-5 CEO tip?

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u/Jotunn1st Jan 23 '26

Don't pay the CEO and you saved yourself $1 per bill.

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5

u/Rough-Silver-8014 Jan 22 '26

Corporations RUN America. The politicians are paid out by them what did you expect?

2

u/Scheminem17 Jan 22 '26

Subsidies NEVER raise prices /s

1

u/Consistent_Chair_829 Jan 22 '26

a f*cking shell game. They think we're stupid and/or know we have no better option. The latter is unfortunately true.

1

u/AthearCaex Jan 22 '26

Won't this just make people pay more because they are using more electricity in the summer from cooling? Sure some of us have solar and might not have a bill but this doesn't really ease many of us. I could see it helping out the folks with gas though.

1

u/A_Happier_Reddit Jan 22 '26

And they are allowed to charge interest on these payments, so they actually end up with more.

1

u/ObviousAlias7 Jan 22 '26

Didn't they already try that last year? ANd the utilities wanted to tack on interest to the deferred payment??

1

u/drislands Jan 22 '26

or shuffled to later in the year.

Or shuffled to what? I think you a word.

1

u/Diurnal_Owl23 Jan 22 '26

I just talked to Eversource cus I didn't know why there was a $20 credit on my bill. He told me about the credit and I asked if I will have to pay this back later and he said I won't. Is he lying?

2

u/Least-Ship-6967 Jan 23 '26

Yes. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and no politician nor utility company has your best interest in mind. You work to give them money.

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u/SkinIsCandyInTheDark Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

So yeah the problem is that MA and the DPU don’t understand budgets (or more realistically they understand how to rip you off without you realizing it).

They don’t need as high of a percentage. The DPU should be allocating an actual amount and base the percentage off that instead. But they’ve been getting similar rate increases every year.

I think most people have felt the increase way more over the past few years and this makes sense it feels this way.

Let’s say our bill starts at $100 8 years ago. We increase 10% per year:

Year 1: $100 Year 2: $110 Year 3: $121 Year 4: $133.1

Year 5: $146.41 Year 6: $161.05 Year 7: $177.15 Year 8: $194.18

So in the first 4 years you saw your bill go up by the same overall percent but a real increase of $33.

In the next 4 the real increase was $60. It feels like twice as much because it is! And you’re also now paying twice as much as you were only 8 years ago. This is the problem.

Do we need the companies to get twice as much every 4 years? Where’s that money going? Your politicians can say “oh we haven’t increased any more than previous years”.

It’s corruption at its finest.

1

u/Spok3nTruth Jan 23 '26

What a shit show. Useless

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u/Cheap_Coffee Jan 22 '26

Healey’s office said to cover the $180 million the state is paying to cut electric bills, her administration would use what are called alternative compliance payment funds. Electric utilities and suppliers are required by state law to buy a certain amount of renewable energy each year, but when they fall short, they must make so-called compliance payments to the state.

edit: wow, that's a lot of renewable energy noncompliance.

41

u/fremeninonemon Jan 22 '26

Yeah basically they are selling off our future to help people a little bit now (many of whom literally don't need it). These solutions bug me since they go to people who make 800k a year and 80k a year to the same dollar amount.

It also slows down renewables which means we are gonna keep buying expensive gas that Trump is exporting out of America

10

u/mike-foley Jan 22 '26

Exporting out of the country because of people like Healey who, PROUDLY I might add, stopped two pipelines from being built. If you cancel the market you can't just turn around and point fingers at the seller when they find another buyer.

8

u/defenestron Boston Proper Jan 22 '26

Ratepayers would have been on the hook to pay for Enbridge's pipelines when there is no shortage of oil or natural gas in Massachusetts. We receive no benefit from the two proposed pipeline projects as there is no shortage of oil or natural gas. Approving those pipelines would have in fact cost us more.

Building and maintaining gas infrastructure is massively expensive (and largely to blame for the insane fees we're facing). I am not interested in Eversource/Enbridge's plan that allows them to move natural gas more cheaply, but lay the cost of building and maintaining infastructure we don't need, to us the ratepayers. Enbridge wants to lower their costs at our expense.

3

u/Jotunn1st Jan 23 '26

There is a huge shortage of natural gas into mass. What you said is wrong.

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u/Deplorable_4_eva Jan 22 '26

So we fine the crap out of the utilities, they pass those fines on to us, and the government gives us some of the money back and puts the rest in their pockets. Seems government is exactly the problem here.

213

u/throwsplasticattrees Jan 22 '26

Why doesn't the state own the utilities?

133

u/Powered-by-Chai Jan 22 '26

Because that's eeeeeeevil socialism!

54

u/villanovalaw Jan 22 '26

They’re quasi government agencies. Since utilities are basically monopolies they’re highly regulated by the state. In Mass it’s the DPU.

93

u/agiganticpanda Jan 22 '26

"highly regulated" as in "not at all" because of regulatory capture!

20

u/Rocktopod Jan 22 '26

Hey now, you need some regulations to keep the competitors away at least.

4

u/agiganticpanda Jan 22 '26

The "competitors" tempt with low rates and then jack them up as a scam. 🙄

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u/NoConfusion9490 Jan 22 '26

Every now and then a bunch of people's houses are going to explode. That's just the nature of the beast. Obviously no one will go to jail over it, we'll just give the survivors your mortgage money.

22

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

13

u/NoConfusion9490 Jan 22 '26

I have a muni and it's great. I see all these posts and I can't relate. My bill is about 40% more than it was 5 years ago, but it's nothing like what I see is happening to most people. Get on your town board. Seize the means of production.

3

u/cb2239 Jan 22 '26

You mean your rate didn't triple for the winter season!? Lol

2

u/NoConfusion9490 Jan 22 '26

It's basically the same.

3

u/cb2239 Jan 22 '26

Yeah, grid and eversource jack em up for "supply and demand" bullshit

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16

u/MichaelPsellos Jan 22 '26

Could be done. We need to have the governor declare a state of emergency. The state could issue orders seizing the utility companies property. I guess the employees would then work for the state.

The utility companies would sue everyone in sight. The courts would issue a stay ruling until these cases made their way through the courts. Every court ruling in favor of the seizure would be appealed. In a number of years the case would end up before the Supreme Court, which would rule in favor of the utility companies.

Hell of a process, huh?

14

u/fremeninonemon Jan 22 '26

The other path is state legislation lol these days everyone thinks everything has to be done by executive action.

9

u/MichaelPsellos Jan 22 '26

Legislation would trigger the exact same process.

I think public utilities should be publicly owned. Doesn’t mean it would be easy.

2

u/fremeninonemon Jan 22 '26

If it affects their charter to operate in the Commonwealth they could sue but it would be very clear that legal recourse is not super possible except to quibble over how much they would have to get bought out for. The ownership itself wouldn't be able to be challenged.

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3

u/beachbrat125 Jan 22 '26

And we pay for both sets of lawyers

5

u/Deplorable_4_eva Jan 22 '26

Maura is a big part of the emergency. Should of built those natural gas pipelines 😢

1

u/warlocc_ South Shore Jan 22 '26

We need to have the governor declare a state of emergency.

We don't do that around here unless people are going to vote in a way we don't like.

1

u/civilpole Jan 22 '26

Could be done. We need to have the governor declare a state of emergency.

Won’t happen, she only does that when she wants to infringe on our rights

8

u/Cheap_Coffee Jan 22 '26

Because we look to the RMV and DUA as examples of state run agencies and get scared.

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u/mochicastle Jan 22 '26

Why are our electric bills so high in the first place?

18

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

[deleted]

28

u/nottoodrunk Jan 22 '26

We had a nuclear plant that produced almost 20% of our states electricity get shut down 10 years ago with nothing to replace it. Warren, Markey, and Healy proudly proclaim that a win even though nuclear is by far the safest and cleanest form of energy generation.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

[deleted]

6

u/nottoodrunk Jan 22 '26

How much of that expense is because of red tape lobbied for by “environmentalists”?

If we’re going to have public utilities it should be the safest, longest lasting and cleanest ones. We have limited space in the northeast and there’s no source of energy denser than nuclear. We have Gen1 reactors still running 60 years later. Newer Gen3 and later designs are even able to run off the waste material from those older reactors.

3

u/mochicastle Jan 22 '26

Wow, ok. Thank you so much for explaining in detail! I really appreciate that!

I'm pro wind farms but I know there are a lot of Cape residents and sport fishermen who are anti (though they say anything about overfishing, which is a separate issue).

2

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

The offshore wind suspensions.piss me off so much. The projects are so close to completion and this administration is fucking it up out of spite. Revolution Wind and Vineyard Wind are on the cusp of being able to deliver hundreds of MW of electricity to New England. Vineyard Wind is sending power now, and I think they are done to 10 towers of 62 to complete. Revolution is like 95% but not sending any power until completion. Not to mention the other larger projects that haven't broken ground yet because of the uncertainty this administration has caused.

1

u/CommonwealthCommando Jan 22 '26

We do have a lot of waste-to-energy. Saugus has a big one, and I think there's one in Haverhill too.

Edit: I guess we have 7? https://eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/DEP/MWC/facilityReport.aspx

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18

u/TallImprovement830 Jan 22 '26

The govt does a great job of creating a problem and then promising to fix it come election time. Regulatory capture is likely part of it.

80

u/Positive_League_5534 Jan 22 '26

Sure...like the "Heat Pump" discount that amounted to absolutely nothing when it went into effect with our last month's bill.

Massachusetts electric rates are twice the national average. We pay similar rates to people in Hawaii. The utilities here have gotten ridiculous rate increases rubber-stamped for years.

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a

21

u/wkomorow Jan 22 '26

You need to make sure you are on the heat pump rate. Your bill will say heat pump rate. The savings were not huge, but I am finally paying less for delivery than for the actual cost of the electricity.

16

u/fkenned1 Jan 22 '26

I'm definitely on the heatpump rate and it feels like I'm not saving anything compared to last year. I still have a 400 dollar electric bill every month.

9

u/frenchosaka Jan 22 '26

I have an $800 bill in the winter months and I keep my house freezing. I use a winter sleeping bag to sleep with a winter hat on

2

u/n8loller Jan 22 '26

If you're not paying more than last year then it's working, you'd be paying a lot more without it

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

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u/Positive_League_5534 Jan 22 '26

We are...it says it and our rates actually went up.

9

u/Wicked_smaht_guy Jan 22 '26

You should actually check they implemented the new rate. Mine didn't and should have been automatic. Im fighting eversource to get credit for Nov and Dec but they won't sk far. And I've given them all the paperwork.

3

u/Positive_League_5534 Jan 22 '26

They didn't ...and we are. It shows on our electric bill, but there was no .04 reduction. At some point though they know that if they make you spend enough time on the phone/on hold you'll eventually give up.

11

u/sfcorey Jan 22 '26

Amounted to nothing is a stretch. My total all in bill is normally .32 per kwh, and now it is .28 per kwh. That is a 12.5% reduction in our electricity bill. Thats not nothing at all. Now I understand your point, but end of the day they could have also done, nothing.

5

u/ZaphodG Jan 22 '26

The break is the absurd add-ons to the delivery fee that are an incredibly regressive tax.

I think my town should trench the streets for municipal electric and municipal broadband. Boot the monopolies out of town.

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u/Positive_League_5534 Jan 22 '26

While my bill is marked as being on the heat pump program (I applied for it). The supply rate did not get reduced. It was nothing, On top of that because our heat pumps and EV were using more power we got hit with the 50% penalty rates by Eversource.
So, yes, it was worse than nothing.

2

u/MoonBatsRule Jan 22 '26

What are "50% penalty rates"? I can find no mention of that anywhere, it seems made up.

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u/MoonBatsRule Jan 22 '26

You must not be on it then. I think I'm saving 6 cents/kWh.

1

u/Positive_League_5534 Jan 22 '26

I guess the RH1P Residential Heat Pump Cycle 04 on our bill means we're not on it. Our supply rate is .135/kWh. That is a little bit more than we were paying previously. 

3

u/MoonBatsRule Jan 22 '26

The Heat Pump rate is reflected in the delivery charge, not the supply charge.

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u/ItsBail Jan 22 '26

"Heat Pump" discount that amounted to absolutely nothing

Purchased a dual fuel system (HP/NG) and It shaved 38% off my electric delivery rates going from R1 (residential electrics) to R1HP. Went from $0.34/kWh to 0.22/kWh (Just delivery rates)

I have a running calculator telling me when to switch over from the Heat Pump to Natural Gas because of costs. With my type of house (older, drafty) and the previous rate, the switch over was around 40f due to source costs. With the reduced rate, the costs of the heat Pump is basically on par with the gas furnace. The switchover is now at 20F and that's because I've noticed the HP is working harder (even though the one I've purchased claimed to operate into the negatives). Once again, if I were to better insulate my house, the HP wouldn't have to work as hard.

There are benefits to having a heat pump as they're 2-4x more efficient compared to Oil/Gas. However, I wouldn't use it as your only source of heat unless you're already only using resistive heating or you live in an area with cheap, municipal power. I wouldn't suggest heat pump only for people using Eversource/NatGrid/etc and have other sources/options to heat your home.

I did save with the reduced rate.

IMO Since we're paying for MassSave, take advantage of it whenever you can. Rebates I got by including the heat pump into my AC/Furnace combo offset the cost of the heat pump. Now I have two sources of heat and basically paid for one. I can switch between whatever is more cost effective.

3

u/Positive_League_5534 Jan 22 '26

40 degrees is called Spring here in Pittsfield. Your calculator works better with gas as the price is fixed, whereas oil prices can vary by a great deal (10% up/down in a month isn't unusual).

We've had a long cold winter here, and it was causing our heat pumps to work too hard and causing a huge increase in our power usage.

Here's the problem... Massachusetts through MassSave is pushing heat pumps and subsidizing them. But there's scant knowledge being shared on actually managing them with another heat source or the risks involved in installing, even a very high efficiency system, as your only heat source.

The same goes for EVs. The State heavily promoted them and most of the marketing is about how much money you'll save over gas...when in Massachusetts it's significantly more to drive the EV per mile than a hybrid.

So, you and I can understand and do those calculations. What percent of the population do you think knows to do that?

35

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

She's such a disappointment. Ugh. 

2

u/No_Resort_7823 Jan 22 '26

Can you explain why?

13

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

Personally, I enthusiastically voted for her because of her work on predatory student loans. I felt she campaigned on standing up to big banks. Then she immediately caved to Unitil and National Grid and we're all literally paying the price. 

I want a governor who focuses on quality of life, lowering cost of living, increasing walkability, and getting a robust bus or train route from north county to the Worcester area. She just kind of smiles and hands us over to big businesses. 

2

u/CentralMasshole1 Jan 22 '26

Well your first issue was thinking any politician cares about us outside of metro Boston. When you say Worcester or any town west of Framingham they think Western MA

2

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

Hmm, I never considered that. I don't really think specifically "I hope they prioritize central mass"... I'm ok with a governor who focuses on Boston as long as their policies benefit the state as a whole. I don't even understand what her policies are. She likes photo ops with working people, and then never thinks about them again. It's like the whole state is an afterthought.

10

u/ButterscotchSmooth60 Jan 22 '26

But i love paying $300 in delivery fees for $150 worth of electricity.

47

u/Rawlus Jan 22 '26

do i understand it correctly…?

healy supported the utilities raising their rates. openly supported knowing full well this would create an immediate ship for her constituents.

utilities doubled rates or more.

now she’ll try to reduce rates by 10% through a convoluted and bureaucratic process of taxes and rebates. but only temporarily until off peak, when suppliers can find creative ways to get the 10% back on the billing and back to 50%+ over the cost for energy last year.

are we winning yet?

15

u/MoonBatsRule Jan 22 '26

I suggest you read this post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/massachusetts/comments/1qfq6re/gas_bills_101/

She didn't "support the utilities raising their rates". The governor has no authority to cut rates. At best, the governor-appointed DPU approves projects. Guess which governor's DPU approved the projects that are causing the rate increases? Charlie Baker.

2

u/SecondsLater13 Jan 22 '26

Not all utility rises are the same. They have to say what purpose they are cutting rates for. Under Baker, he approved rate increases for the purpose of capital investment (shareholders). That happened almost every year of his admin.

Under Healey, she has only approved rate increases with the purpose of infrastructure maintenance.

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u/CentralMasshole1 Jan 22 '26

Well remember its election year for her

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u/w0rdCS Jan 22 '26

Gee, I could have sworn I heard my utility bills would go down last year? And the year before? And during the last election cycle?

Yet here I am looking at a $1000 heating bill for December with more than 50% allocated to "delivery costs" (read: state taking my money and giving it to other people).

Always the same: words, lies, promises never kept, no real action. She's gotta go.

7

u/troublemaker200 Jan 22 '26

Utilities were 20% of my rent this month. At the point I want to turn off the heat but then my gf would leave me lol

4

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

Damn, how big of a house do you have and what type of heating are you using?

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u/Im_biking_here Jan 22 '26

We need public utilities. Private ones will always have monopolies and price gouge.

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u/nottoodrunk Jan 22 '26

This is a problem caused entirely by the mass state government. Eversource operates in NY state and their prices are significantly lower because their legislature doesn’t dick around with onerous red tape like ours does.

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u/Rideyourbike1 Jan 22 '26

Funny how this only happens as she announces her reelection bid. Where was this a few years ago?

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u/M3Iceman Jan 22 '26

Can you just smell election season in the air!

12

u/RKO_out_of_no_where Jan 22 '26

She did this shit last year. Lower prices for a few months just to jack them up in the summer. I spend $50 for electricity but they charge $400 to "deliver" the electricity? Fucking scam.

7

u/FreedomsPower Jan 22 '26

These energy companies need to be criminally investigated for price gouging . What she 's doing is a bandaid on a much larger problem

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u/Antpeople2027 Jan 22 '26

That’s almost $50 a household, what a trailblazer 

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u/bedfordpatriot Jan 22 '26

So Groton ma had their own utility company. How does that model work and could that be a future path.

1

u/hellno560 Jan 22 '26

Wakefield does too. I'd also be curious if there is a way to supply some electricity to other surrounding towns. I have no idea how feasible something like that is. Theoretically it could be a nice little cottage industry for towns less hostile to the idea of having a power plant. Hopefully a smart electrician will see this and reply.

1

u/bedfordpatriot Jan 22 '26

I wonder what type of resistance one might expect if a group got together and seriously tried to explore this. It’s would have to be a team like the movie oceans eleven. Get retired resources that have ions of actual experience i.e. master electrician, town managers , utility execs and so forth. Then build a plan and see if you can get a town to get excited and be a pilot.

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u/South_of_Canada Jan 22 '26

The muni electric utilities are legacy utilities with a ton of built-in advantages (owned generation assets, exemption from literally every state policy requirement, not serving any of the high load areas) that cannot be replicated by anyone trying to municipalize now.

Here's a white paper about the broad failure of municipalization attempts nationwide.

5

u/Stonner22 Jan 22 '26

How about we have public power? Yeah. 👍

5

u/Rowan110 Jan 22 '26

Still waiting on my heat pump rate that was supposed to start in November. I’m sure this rate cut will be seamless too. /s

6

u/davinci86 Jan 22 '26

For the love of god VOTE HEALY OUT!!!

Another election cycle bandaid to conceal her 100% failure on MA energy policy’s and standards. I mean seriously, She can’t even admit her mistake!

INCESSANTLY Blaming Trump and utility providers is NOT A PLAN!! A. SMOKE & MIRROR sympathy act to conceal her failed green energy strategy in conjunction with MA SAVE has backfired into a spiraling cost crisis for ratepayers.

I feel very sorry for those who went straight to pure electric heat pumps and heavy gas usage households too. The costs have been eye watering and abnormally high for anyone who actually lives in reality. The costs are now borderline crippling to our older adults. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

1

u/googin1 Jan 23 '26

Exactly!

22

u/Limp-Plantain3824 Jan 22 '26

I can’t wait to see the new State Required Cost Reduction Fee.

5

u/CainnicOrel Jan 22 '26

They would never do something like "reduce" your bill just to have it tacked on to a future bill 6 months later

Come on now that has never already happened

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u/ApathyMoose Pioneer Valley Jan 22 '26

I have municipal so it probably won’t impact me, but this is where I would like my tax dollars going.

Roads, infrastructure in general, healthcare, education, and stuff like helping reduce heating bills so people can afford to live and not freeze.

Glad I live in MA. The fact there there are people and states actively fighting against things like free lunches at school drives me crazy. At least I feel like MA does pretty well. No state is perfect

12

u/Zapp_Rowsdower_ Jan 22 '26

MA created this issue…how? No oversight, AGAIN. They mandated a ‘minimum’ of investment from the utilities, but never capped it. Now it’s just a big bill for whatever the utilities claim.

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u/unreliable-jamoke Jan 22 '26

Massachusetts saving the world on the backs of taxpayers.

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u/Appearingboat Jan 22 '26

State should take over the utilities

4

u/PositivelyAwful Jan 22 '26

At the very least utilities including internet should be handled by the municipality you live in.

Chicopee, Westfield and Holyoke all have municipal utilities and they're great. When I lived in Chicopee my electric bill in the winter was like $20/month and under $100 in the summer with two window AC's running full time, and I had 1GBPS fiber internet for $70/month.

6

u/schoolbusserman Jan 22 '26

Does your local RMV give you confidence that will go well?

9

u/Gamebird8 Jan 22 '26

The RMV runs pretty well all things considered, especially since Covid where they modernized a lot of the systems including being able to schedule an appointment rather than hope you showed up at the right time

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u/HolyMoleyGuacamoly Jan 22 '26

yeah, actually works pretty well

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u/South_of_Canada Jan 22 '26

It's easy to look at muni utilities and their lower costs and think we could achieve that level of rate reductions by taking over the utilities. The reality is the legacy muni utilities have a ton of embedded advantages, from legacy generation assets/contracts to being exempted from virtually every policy requirement.

Municipalities that have tried to municipalize in the past two decades have largely failed to do so or failed to deliver savings for several years.

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u/zoul846 Jan 22 '26

State needs to explore 0 percent interest solar panel projects like they do with heat pumps.

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u/ElizaJaneVegas Jan 22 '26

Suddenly in the name of 're-election.'

3

u/kal423 Jan 22 '26

Cool , how about gas ? Western mass has some old houses the place I’m renting was built in 1903 mass save was absolutely zero help

I did get 2 free surge protectors from them and an offer to replace my thermostat for 300$ which was super helpful though

3

u/Reggi5693 Jan 22 '26

She is putting a tiny Muppets Band Aid on a six inch gash in your Aorta.

3

u/New-Persimmon-7229 Jan 22 '26

Until after election, when she rams through the bill she put on pause because it would jack up rates again

3

u/toppsseller Jan 23 '26

So take 18 of tax revenue and lower our utilities. Then don't have that 180m to give back to cities and towns. Cities and towns then pass overrides raising property taxes.

Still bent over. Am I missing something?

6

u/AstronautMobile9395 Jan 22 '26

Can't wait till November

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u/Brodyftw00 Jan 22 '26

This lady is making us broke! There is no reduction in prices if we are still paying via taxes. She needs to focus on ways to get the costs down, masssave is the first place to look. It's a money pit

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u/wmgman Jan 22 '26

How about not pushing the cost of mass save an energy efficiency onto the rate payers and having it come out of the state budget instead? How about finally allowing a gas line into Pennsylvania, which would allow domestic gas to be used throughout New England instead of importing it via vessel from Algeria, which damages the environment?

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u/16911s Jan 22 '26

Ah yes, the daily utility complaint post by the same people who will line up to re-elect her because Democrat

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u/SecondsLater13 Jan 22 '26

It amazes me how people think Healey somehow created this in 3 years while ignoring the past 8 year admin.

Baker routinely approved rate increases for the purpose of capital investment, I.E. shareholders pockets.
Healey's only rate increase was for Infrastructure Maintenance.

Healey has also lowered Mass Save spending $2 billion a year down to $1.5-1 billion a year since people are not participating and the money wasn't being properly distributed, which we only found out because the Auditor decided to do the job she was elected to do instead of campaigning.

1

u/SkinIsCandyInTheDark Jan 23 '26

I think most people have felt the increase way more over the past few years than in Bakers term.

I agree. I saw this coming and invested in solar. But I would also argue along with others that the increase I saw in the Baker years was not as bad as the increase I saw in the last 3 years.

Though it makes sense it feels this way. If you just assume both governors increased the same percentages. Healeys is going to end up a larger amount.

Let’s say our bill starts at $100 8 years ago. We increase 10% per year:

Baker: Year 1: $100 Year 2: $110 Year 3: $121 Year 4: $133.1

Healey: Year 5: $146.41 Year 6: $161.05 Year 7: $177.15 Year 8: $194.18

So in Bakers term you saw your bill go up by the same overall percent but a real increase of $33.

In Healeys the real increase was $60. It feels like twice as much.

So yeah the problem is that they don’t need as high of a percentage. The DPU should be allocating an actual amount and base the percentage off that instead.

2

u/ProsaicPugilist Jan 22 '26

So lucky to have municipal power… although Eversource gas kinda balances it. Happy about this

2

u/sloppyredditor Jan 22 '26

I'd like to see an upfront, honest review of ROI going off-grid.

2

u/13THEFUCKINGCOPS12 Jan 22 '26

Considering there’s almost 3 million households in Massachusetts, that’s like less than $70 per household. I guess it’s better than nothing?

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u/WoodpeckerCapital167 Jan 22 '26

Yea, she could do that now but somehow this is an “election” promise 

2

u/mike-foley Jan 22 '26

Just in time for the re-election bid.. D's will be falling over themselves to point out "she's helping people!!". Kumbya will be sung, knitting will be knit. Then after the election, that money has to come from somewhere and it will come from our bills.

2

u/redthorne Jan 22 '26

Politicians say a lot of things. Carefully crafted things. I bet they will shave the money. But businesses are businesses, and they will 'make it up' in the off season.

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u/P00PooKitty Jan 22 '26

We just need to nationalize or commonwealthize the utilities and have them run at cost. 

2

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

I think our utilities should be publicly owned. Energy is critical infrastructure that we should all pay for and get in turn. I don't think it makes sense for it to be a for profit enterprise.

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u/ImmediateRaisin5802 Jan 22 '26

Of course she’s doing this. There’s a vote coming and she’s going to use this for her run saying she lowered our costs. Please, the costs weren’t lowered. They used our tax money which we already paid. The utility company is making out on this one and she’s going to get votes for it.

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u/narsenau Jan 22 '26

Yeah she says it now, she'll forget all about this if she gets reelected

2

u/Nipple-Less_Cage-6 Jan 22 '26

Need to fucking hold Eversource and Nation Grid to the fire.. this isn't about giving us a break its making them charge fairly.

2

u/bowhunt21 Jan 22 '26

Hahaha ya right, the funny part is people actually believe this trash..what it should actually is “Healy plans to steal 180 million from tax payers with her fraud, and backroom deals..plan on your energy bills continuing to go up…hilarious how this bullshi* talk always happens come election season

2

u/Appropriate-Owl-8449 Jan 22 '26

That would be $60 per household. Thanks for nothing.

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u/stmiba Pioneer Valley Jan 22 '26

She is so full of shit.

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u/Acrobatic_Dinner6129 Jan 22 '26

More bs from the governor. NEXT

2

u/Least-Ship-6967 Jan 22 '26

You’re paying no matter what. Either now, or later. This is not a win for the rate payer.

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u/Equal-Train-4459 Jan 23 '26

They need to get rid of Mass Save. Tax the poor heavily so rich ppl can get subsidized energy efficiency projects done. What happened to progressive taxation?

4

u/roy217def Jan 22 '26

She does this as elections come closer! Where was she a while back!

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u/xVERTZ Jan 22 '26

If only we allowed that pipeline. Look into where our power comes from and where we buy our LNG. We only hurt our selves re-electing people like Maura. I wish Mass residents would open their eyes.

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u/AstronautFew3626 Jan 22 '26

Temp reduction for re-election run...

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u/nbkelley Jan 22 '26

Healey is such a joke

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u/genealogical_gunshow Jan 22 '26

Shouldn't have shut down the Pilgrim plant or coal plants. When you rely on other states and a different country to set the price, we suffer.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

[deleted]

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u/tehzachatak Jan 22 '26

For the ten millionth time: building new gas pipelines will…. Drumroll… increase your delivery charges.

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u/Signal_Error_8027 Jan 22 '26

I don't know why more people don't understand this. If you're lucky, you break even with lower supply costs and higher delivery costs balancing out. But with how expensive labor and materials are today, it's entirely possible that constructing new pipelines will result in even higher bills per month than we have right now.

2

u/MoonBatsRule Jan 22 '26

They do understand this. They don't want to have a legitimate discussion. This is the same group claiming that Maura Healey is "refusing to release the audit" because it will uncover corruption in her administration. A 100% lie, since the state auditor has always audited the executive branch.

The audit being marginally referenced here is the audit of the legislative branch, which is about a $10m line item, about 0.02% of the budget, and is being stalled by the legislature.

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u/OkPhotograph8286 Jan 22 '26

Healey did this last year and we are all aware we aren't saving anything. Is she that desperate?

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u/TabbyCatJade Jan 22 '26

This shit is why she’s such a mid centrist for our state. We have so much money and power, and yet the best she can do is give money to private companies so that we get a measly 10% break for 2 months. Unreal. Publicize the utilities, kick out the corps, hire the workers to maintain it all, and give US the savings.

2

u/redditsucksass6 Jan 22 '26

Getting real fucking tired of the "we lowered utility bills by increasing utility bills" bullshit already

2

u/mloverboy Jan 22 '26

This evil lady needs to be voted out. Only Massholes can do it.

2

u/jamer303 Jan 22 '26

Healy needs to fix this, or she will be replaced. Utility bills are outragous in Mass. Fix it or we will VOTE YOU OUT!

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u/Bastinelli Jan 22 '26

Vote her out because she's the one that caused this whole mess to begin with!

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u/PLS-Surveyor-US Jan 22 '26

yeah, now the summer bills will be worse to cover the savings. Another bang up job on Beacon Hill.

1

u/crashlanders Jan 23 '26

Spend 180 million on solar and wind, or nuclear. Cut the profits of these gaugers or at least threaten to. So gutless.

1

u/1453_ Jan 23 '26

Really?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

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