Ahead of her third State of the Commonwealth Address on Thursday night, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced new steps she’s taking to lower utility costs.
The announcement is drawing criticism with some folks wondering if it’s really going to benefit Bay State residents and businesses in the long-term. Though, some residents said they appreciate any effort to reduce costs.
According to a spokesperson for Healey’s office, electric bills will be reduced by 25 percent and gas bills will be reduced by 10 percent in the months of February and March.
The Healey administration will cover the $180 million cost of these reductions using existing funding sources. Customers will begin seeing the discounted rates reflected in their February utility bills.
Conservative advocacy group, Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance is calling the initiative “disingenuous.” Executive director Paul Craney said its a way of kicking the can down the road.
“The governor is feeling a lot of heat because the energy bills are so high,” Craney said. “The governor is not actually lowering bills, she’s just extending bills to be paid down the road.”
High utility bills have been a concern of many residents for months.
Michelle Curran moved into her home in Plymouth three years ago and said her electric bill used to be around $100 or less. However, Curran said the newest bill she got on Wednesday is more than triple what she used to pay.
“I know a lot of people in the community, myself included, we’re just struggling to get by. The increase in cost of just basic essentials, it’s been difficult for a lot of us,” Curran said.
For Ben Threadgould, he recently bought a town house in Oxford but hasn’t moved in yet. He said he hasn’t plugged in any appliances and keeps the heat at the bare minimum so the pipes don’t freeze. Even so, he just got slammed with a $1,250 bill from National Grid.
“It’s out of control. I’ve never come even close to half of this bill in utilities combined,” Threadgould said. “Had I known this previous, I wouldn’t have purchased a house back in Massachusetts. Even at a reasonable mortgage payment, to have an electric bill ranging anywhere from $800 to $1,200 dollars is...why would I ever sign up for that when I can go somewhere else, buy cheaper real estate, cheaper cost of living overall than staying in Massachusetts and seeing all of our money just going out the window?”
Both residents said they appreciate efforts to alleviate the financial strain of these rate hikes, but question how it’s getting done.
“None of this accounting makes sense at all,” Threadgould said.
“I think we need to look into long term solutions and I also question where is that money coming from?” Curran questioned.
In regard to the governor’s initiative, Eversource provided the following statement:
“We share Governor Healey’s focus on energy affordability and are working every day to keep costs as low as possible while maintaining safe, reliable service for our customers. We are actively working with the Administration to implement winter bill relief for customers in February and March and will be communicating directly with customers as those details are finalized. We’re still finalizing details, and because the 10% reduction for gas customers and 25% reduction for electric customers will be volumetric (or based on usage), specific bill impacts will vary by customer and based on the weather.”
Boston25 also reached out to National Grid for comment on the new state initiative, but we have yet to hear back.
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