Massachusetts Energy Bill May Penalize Small Users, Solar Advocates Warn

Massachusetts lawmakers have passed energy bills aimed at cutting electricity costs through grid reliability measures and streamlined solar permitting, but a proposed fixed-charge structure could raise bills for the lowest-usage households and small businesses. Data from Eversource and National Grid suggest that the bottom quarter of residential users would see increases exceeding 10%, while the largest users would save money. Solar industry advocates argue this would undermine the bills' intended benefits and reduce incentives for rooftop solar and storage.