The Senate Voted. Western Mass Won
— For Now.
The June fight is over. The Senate passed its energy bill on July 1, and the numbers are better than expected. Here is what is in it, what Senator Comerford's office delivered, and what comes next before your heating bill changes.
By Gregory Garrison, President, Northeast Solar Design Associates | July 2026
I write these posts because our neighbors deserve straight answers about our energy future, and because Northeast Solar is committed to keeping our energy dollars and our energy decisions local, for the benefit of everyone in Western Massachusetts. I had this post ready in June. Then the Senate vote was days away, and it made more sense to wait and tell you what actually happened rather than what was about to happen.
Worth the wait.
Western Mass had just come through its first heat advisory of the season when I wrote the draft. Temperatures in the 90s, humidity to match, every window AC unit from Greenfield to Pittsfield running flat out. At my house in Montague, the mini-splits hummed, and the rooms stayed cool. I opened the Enphase app and watched the panels on my roof carry the load. I felt secure. The comfort was already paid for. That feeling is what this work is about. And on July 1, the Massachusetts Senate made it more achievable for more of our neighbors. The Senate passed its energy affordability bill. Projected savings over a decade: $14 billion. That is $5 billion more than the House's own target of $9 billion. The Senate did not just meet the bar. It raised it.
What the Senate Passed
In June I laid out the fight between the House and Senate positions. Here is how it resolved:
The bill also includes direct state negotiation for clean energy contracts, cutting out utility intermediaries (up to $420 million in savings), reform of reconciling charges that spike during high-demand months ($750 million), and a single streamlined infrastructure planning process to eliminate duplicated utility spending ($1.7 billion).
One item worth noting separately. The bill targets something most people do not know they are paying. Between 2015 and 2024, Massachusetts customers may have paid an estimated $3.4 billion more than necessary because utilities were not actively shopping for the best electricity rates. A new state investigation will look at this, with potential savings of up to $1 billion, which is roughly $12 a month for a typical household if restitution follows.
The Western Mass Angle
In June I said the Senate's approach asks our region to give up almost nothing, while the House approach asks our oil and propane towns to give up the program they actually use. That held. Mass Save is not cut. It is strengthened. The Senate bill adds accountability, including an oversight board, caps on administrative spending, and removal of automatic utility bonus payments, while keeping the rebates and the 0 percent HEAT Loan intact. That is what "get smart" looks like in practice.
GSEP gets phased out by 2030. If you are a gas customer in Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton, or Greenfield, that Maintenance and Infrastructure Investment line on your bill, the one that can eat more than half your delivery charges, starts getting smaller. If you heat with oil or propane, you never paid it, and you are not being asked to sacrifice anything to get this relief.
The solar on-bill financing provision is new and significant. One of the biggest barriers to going solar in Western Mass is the upfront cost. This provision lets households finance panels and battery storage through their utility bill over time. No upfront payment. No separate loan application. If it survives conference committee, it opens the door for households that have been watching from the sidelines.
What Senator Comerford's Office Delivered
Our home district senator, Joanne Comerford (D-Northampton), Vice Chair of Senate Ways and Means, filed nine amendments. Three were adopted. All three matter to this region.
Amendment 1: Crack down on utility profit margins. Massachusetts utilities currently earn return on equity of 9.5 to 10 percent. National research puts the real cost of attracting investment closer to 7.9 percent. That gap is not a rounding error. It is hundreds of millions of dollars billed to ratepayers every year. This amendment directs the Department of Public Utilities to investigate and rein in those margins. I called it the one to watch in June. It passed.
Amendment 3: Fix clean energy siting for small towns. The state's new siting law requires each municipality to designate a Local Government Representative to manage clean energy permitting. For most of our hilltowns, that defaults to a volunteer Select Board with no staff and no budget. This amendment lets towns use the existing 53G consultant process, where the applicant pays for the technical review. The 12-month decision clock does not start until the contract is signed, so towns have the capacity to do the job right. Northeast Solar provided feedback in support of this fix. It passed.
Amendment 4: Eliminate the RTO adder. This one is less visible but worth understanding. Transmission companies in Massachusetts collect a 0.5 percent bonus on their rates for voluntarily participating in ISO-New England, the regional grid operator. That bonus was created 20 years ago to encourage utilities to join regional transmission organizations. They have all joined. The adder has become a needless fee with no benefit to ratepayers. This amendment requires all transmission companies to participate in ISO-NE, which lets the Attorney General petition the federal regulator to eliminate the adder. Projected savings: more than $10 million per year.
What Comes Next
The House and Senate now go to conference committee to reconcile their bills. The House bill cuts Mass Save. The Senate bill preserves it. The House bill leaves GSEP alone. The Senate bill phases it out by 2030. Those are not small differences, and conference committees are where things get traded.
A final bill has to pass both chambers and be signed by the Governor before it becomes law. There is no fixed deadline, but both chambers want this resolved before summer is out. This is the part of the process where the outcome is least predictable. The Senate gave us a strong position going in. Whether it holds depends on what happens in that room.
What This Means for Your Household
If you heat with oil or propane, your household is still at the center of this fight. The Senate protected the Mass Save incentives that help homeowners move from fossil-fuel heating to air-source heat pumps, lower their heating costs, and make their homes more secure and resilient. The House bill cut $1 billion from Mass Save. Whether the Senate protections survive conference committee will determine whether today’s heat pump rebates and 0 percent HEAT Loan financing remain available next year.
The current program is intact now. Air-source heat pump rebates are available now. The 0 percent HEAT Loan is available now for qualifying home energy improvements, including heat pump projects, weatherization work, heat pump water heaters, and residential batteries enrolled in ConnectedSolutions. If you have been waiting, waiting is not getting cheaper.
If you are thinking about solar. The Senate bill's on-bill financing provision, if it survives conference committee, removes the biggest barrier for households that want to go solar but cannot cover the upfront cost. We will be watching this one closely. In the meantime, the standard incentive programs are still in place.
If you already have solar on your roof. The ACP provision that would have weakened your REC income did not make it into the Senate bill. Your net metering is untouched. Your SREC income is more protected than it would have been under the House version.
If you already built your full energy stack with us. Nothing changes for you. Keep enjoying the air conditioning your neighbors are paying triple for.
The good news is that the Senate is now actively rewriting the bill, and early signals suggest the House cut will not survive in its current form. More on that below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the Senate preserve Mass Save rebates?
Yes. The Senate bill preserves the Mass Save incentives that help homeowners install air-source heat pumps, move away from oil and propane, and reduce long-term heating costs. It also keeps the 0 percent HEAT Loan intact for qualifying home energy improvements, including heat pump projects, weatherization, heat pump water heaters, and residential batteries enrolled in ConnectedSolutions. The Senate bill adds accountability measures and caps administrative spending, but it does not make homeowners give up the tools they actually use. The House bill cut $1 billion from the program. That difference still has to be resolved in conference committee.
Is GSEP gone?
Not yet. The Senate bill phases it out by 2030 and restores normal cost oversight. The House bill left it untouched. This is one of the biggest open items going into conference committee.
What happens in conference committee?
House and Senate conferees negotiate a single bill that both chambers then vote on. No fixed deadline, but both chambers want this resolved before the end of summer. Conference is where the House's cuts could creep back in, or where the Senate's stronger provisions could hold.
Does any of this affect residential net metering?
No. Typical residential systems are cap-exempt and keep the Class I credit. Nothing in either bill changes that.
What is the solar on-bill financing provision?
A new mechanism that lets homeowners finance solar panels and battery storage through their utility bill over time, with no upfront cost. It has to survive conference committee to become law, but if it does, it is a significant change for households that want to go solar but have been priced out of the upfront investment.
The Bottom Line
The Senate came through, and the numbers are better than I expected. Fourteen billion dollars. Mass Save protected and strengthened. GSEP on a path out by 2030. Utility profit margins under investigation. A new way for households to finance solar. And Senator Comerford's amendments on ROE, municipal siting, and the RTO adder all made it in.
The fight is not over. Conference committee is where the House's cuts could creep back in. But the Senate went in with a strong hand, and the people of Western Massachusetts, especially the ones still paying $5 a gallon for oil, have a horse in that room.
I run a business in the energy sector. I serve in my community. And I would rather move electrons than molecules. This bill, if it survives conference committee intact, makes that transition a lot more accessible to the people who live here.
If you can do this, you should. The Senate version keeps the door open for the neighbors who almost can.
The current rebates and the 0 percent HEAT Loan are available today. Start with our heating cost calculator to see what your fuel actually costs per unit of heat compared to a heat pump. Then call us and we will show you the full picture: the costs, the incentives, and the payback, honestly.
Sources and Further Reading
- Massachusetts Senate Bill S3143, full text
- Senate President's office fact sheet
- Senator Comerford: 14 Billion Reasons to Like the Senate's Energy Affordability Bill
- Senator Comerford floor video: Where the $14 Billion Comes From
- Massachusetts House Bill H5175, full text
- Acadia Center: Massachusetts Energy Bill H5175
- MassSave HEAT Loan and rebates
Why Northeast Solar
We’ve been doing this for 15 years, right here in Western Massachusetts. Over 1,500 systems installed across Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, and Berkshire Counties. Local crews. Local investment.
We’re the only installer in the region that offers solar, battery storage, mini-splits, and EV charging under one roof. We don’t just sell panels. We build a Personal Power Plan designed around your home, your usage, and your goals.
MassSave Partner. Mitsubishi Diamond Installer.
Northeast Solar | (413) 247-6045 | northeast-solar.com
Serving Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, and Berkshire Counties for 15 years.
The best time to act was before the rules changed. The second-best time is today.
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