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As reported previously, Massachusetts Gov. Healey signed into law  S.2967 entitled “An Act Promoting A Clean Energy Grid, Advancing Equity And Protecting Ratepayers.”

See Bill Text  here. 

Excerpt from Governor’s Press Release:

{***} Governor Maura Healey signed into law An Act promoting a clean energy grid, advancing equity, and protecting ratepayers. This legislation will accelerate clean energy development, improve energy affordability, create an equitable infrastructure siting process, allow for multistate clean energy procurements, promote non-gas heating, expand access to electric vehicles and create jobs and support workers throughout the energy transition.  {***}

The new law is comprehensive tackling clean energy, climate change, and energy efficiency initiatives and regulation that also includes the following key provisions:

• The DPU division of facility siting must maintain a real-time, online, clean energy infrastructure dashboard;
• Electric utilities deploying AMI must jointly establish a centralized data repository to allow customers and third parties, including competitive suppliers, access to advanced metering data, including billing, interval usage and load data, in near-real time for all customer classes;
• A supplier or other third party is entitled to access detailed advanced metering infrastructure customer data from the centralized data repository, subject to appropriate customer approval and protections. Advanced metering infrastructure data may include, but is not limited to, customer billing period usage data, peak demand, supplier information and relevant account information;
• Electric utilities must implement accelerated switching permitting a residential or small commercial electric customer to change suppliers within 3 business days, once AMI is fully deployed. Customers moving within a utility’s territory are permitted to transfer their supplier directly to their new service location without being required to switch to an interim rate provided by the utility or other supplier. Customers establishing electric service will be permitted to take service from their supplier on the first day of service. Customers will be required to take basic service from a distribution utility prior to selecting and switching to a supplier;
• The DPU must promulgate rules and regulations requiring utility companies to produce information, in the form of a mailing, webpage or other approved method of distribution, to their consumers, to inform them of available rebates, discounts, credits and other cost-saving mechanisms that can help them lower their monthly utility bills and send out such information semi-annually;
• Includes a requirement for cities and towns to approve small clean energy infrastructure project applications through a consolidated permitting process within 12 months; 
• Puts new restrictions on the DPU’s consideration of expansion of natural gas service; and
• Establishes clean energy infrastructure facility concept and provisions. [ *** ]

Governor’s Press Release  (11/20/2024)
S.2967
“An Act Promoting A Clean Energy Grid, Advancing Equity And Protecting Ratepayers.”
(Formerly SB2838)