They gave you a coupon. They gave Eversource a contract.
The energy bill was sold as saving us money. It does the opposite.
The legislature passed a 106-page energy bill. No public hearing. They told us it saves $9 billion over 10 years.
We looked at an actual electric bill from an actual household. The savings? About $33 on a peak winter month. On a normal month, more like $8 to $12. That is the coupon.
It comes from cutting $1 billion out of Mass Save — the program that helps families weatherize their homes, install heat pumps, and lower their energy costs permanently. It returns $3 in savings for every $1 we invest.
They cut the program that saves us money so they could say they saved us money.
The contract: seven new charges. No caps. No end dates.
- Central procurement fund surcharge
- Distribution asset entitlement leases
- Expanded low/moderate-income surcharge (with no funding limit)
- Inclusive utility investment cost recovery
- Thermal network lease payments (no competitive bidding required)
- Grid modernization cost recovery
- Accelerated gas system enhancement charges
Our coupon expires. Their contract does not.
They broke the promise
Twenty-one communities across Massachusetts were designated as equity communities in the 2025-2027 Mass Save plan. Lawrence. Lowell. Springfield. Brockton. Chelsea.
Renters in those communities were told: no-cost heat pumps. No-cost weatherization. No paperwork. No income verification. You qualify by where you live, because where you live is the evidence.
The bill put the paperwork back.
Nobody asked for our income when they charged us the surcharge. Now they want proof we are poor enough to get the help we already paid for.
What Erika did
Erika was one of two Democrats to vote NO on this bill. She filed five floor amendments to save Mass Save, protect equity communities, eliminate the new red tape, and pause the gas infrastructure charges that ballooned from "$1 to $2 a month" to $800 million a year.
What she will fight for in the Senate
- End uncapped utility delivery charges
- Require competitive bidding on all energy infrastructure
- Restore Mass Save funding
- Retrofit buildings to cut costs and pollution
- Challenge rate designs that charge us 108% of our costs while large commercial customers pay 56% of theirs
Our energy costs are not an accident. They are choices. Erika fights to change them.
The plan.
- End uncapped utility delivery charges
- Require competitive bidding on all energy infrastructure
- Retrofit buildings to cut costs and pollution