As the new home of MASSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Massachusetts can be contacted regarding this news release.
BOSTON—With
home heating and electricity prices expected to skyrocket this winter,
the House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday, Sept. 22 that
would cut utility bills for customers throughout the state, by making
common appliances more energy-efficient. The House’s action marks a
crucial step toward passage of the bill into law. Environmental and
consumer advocates hailed the bill’s passage as a major step forward
for all the citizens of Massachusetts.
“This
bill is good for consumers, good for business, and good for the
environment,” said Frank Gorke, Energy Advocate for the Massachusetts
Public Interest Research Group, or MASSPIRG. “All of the legislators
involved deserve thanks for their foresight and leadership in passing
this important energy- and money-saving measure, especially Chairman
Brian Dempsey of Haverhill.”
The
bill, championed by Chairman Dempsey and Representative Matt Patrick of
Falmouth, would make home furnaces and boilers, laptop power cords, and
several other products more energy efficient, cutting energy bills in
the commonwealth by almost $1 billion between now and 2030. The bill
would also reduce the threat of brownouts and blackouts by lowering
demand on the electricity grid, and has support from two of the
region’s biggest utilities, Massachusetts Electric and KeySpan.
"Heating
costs hit record highs last winter, and the time is ripe to reduce home
heating bills," said Charlie Harak, an attorney for the National
Consumer Law Center who represents low-income energy users. "This bill
is very good for low-income utility customers, especially because of
the efficiency standard for home furnaces and boilers. The bill will
produce significant savings for people who already spend a huge portion
of their incomes on heating their homes."
"With
every day that passes we see more evidence of the need for states to
act to help their residents and businesses cope with higher and higher
energy prices," said Susan Coakley, executive director of
Lexington-based Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), which
is coordinating the effort to promote new appliance efficiency
standards in 10 Northeast states.
Currently
there are federal efficiency standards for a number of products on the
market, like refrigerators and residential air conditioners. But the
federal standard-setting program at the U.S. Department of Energy has
fallen more than a decade behind key legal deadlines, so several states
are taking the lead and passing bills that would set state appliance
efficiency standards to guarantee residents will save money on their
electricity bills. The bill is expected to be taken up by the Senate
shortly.
“Chairman
Dempsey, Speaker DiMasi, and Representatives Thomas Golden of Lowell,
Christopher Fallon of Malden, Paul Donato of Medford, and Matt Patrick
of Falmouth, along with all the other supporters of the bill, deserve
great thanks for this important move to address the energy crisis,”
added Gorke.
