2023-06-08 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy
2023-06-08 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - I call this meeting of the joint committee on telecommunications Utility in energy for June 8 2023 to order. And today,210 we're gonna be dealing with issues involving utilities and consumer protection. But before we get started, let me introduce the folks who are here in the room, and I can see we have folks online as well, representative Fernandez.
Representative Owens, representative Lipigarabedian, advice chair rep haggerty, and Rhett Moschino is here with us today in the room and with us online is Representative Hawkins and representative Howard. So thank you all for joining us today, and we will dive right into the testimony. and rep on me since you made the first funny joke of the day that wins you first place on the hearing list. So we'd be delighted to hear from you.
REP ARMINI - HB 3137 - Thank you, chairman Roy, Vice Chair Haggerty, and my esteemed colleagues on the committee. I am grateful for the opportunity to testify before you today regarding an act relative to interveners and utility groups or utility work. It's an odd name, I admit, which is why some295 of the organizations involved in the legislation refer to it now as an act to empower municipal voices, that's a more accurate descriptor. This Bill305 was born of years of frustration within cities and towns regarding their utility, their ability to access information, and express their views to the Department of Public Utilities and to the public utilities themselves. I heard directly from the multi town gas leaks initiative, which includes the Metropolitan Planning Council, Heat, Mothers out front, and several municipalities. The utilities don't respond to concerns, they don't show up for meetings. It kind of reminds me of my Jewish grandmother who would say, you know, you don't write, you don't call, nothing. Guilt, however, is not working here, so we need the legislature.
The Bill focuses on two important points of contact. The first is when DPU is considering a rate case, municipalities can file a motion to intervene, but the agency has been very generous in denying those motions. This is counter to the goals of open and transparent government and that's why this Bill gives municipalities and other stakeholders a voice by right. The next point of contact is when utilities are preparing to open streets. The Bill requires them to respond to requests from municipalities and residents about the condition of the gas lines, their risks, and hazardous conditions. This would give communities the396 chance to prioritize the most dangerous398 leaks and plan for greater400 investments in clean energy, conservation, and electrification. Now, to that point, this information vacuum complicates the climate action plan cities and towns are developing to meet the Commonwealth's net zero goals. There were 371 gas leak, in Marblehead, Swampscott, and the city of Lynn at the end of 2021, that equals a 181.5 metric tons of escaping methane, and to put that in perspective, that's equivalent to15,609 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Now, should the pipes have been repaired or replaced, are we installing stranded assets beneath our feet, or are we smartly preparing for the eventual transition to cleaner infrastructure? My communities have no idea. This Bill forces better communication, so utilities are prevented from running rough shot over cities and towns. Further, and this is my favorite part of the Bill, it requires gas companies compensate cities and towns and property owners for damage to trees and other property due to gas leaks and construction. A Harvard study done in 2020 on dead and dying trees in Chelsea found methane concentrations 30 times greater than in the healthy trees. Gas leaks are killing one of our most effective carbon sequestration resources, they have to be replaced. So action by the legislature is required to protect our constituents and this Bill provides510 three approaches for doing so. Again, I'm grateful for opportunity to share these ideas with you today, and I'm happy to work with the committee to make this Bill even more effective. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions from any of the folks here in the room that you're just pointing? No. No. No question. No.533 Any questions from members out in Internet land.539
No questions. Well, just to let you know, your grandmother just texted me. She would like you to call or write So she said549 since I have you captive, I --551 That's right. -- that off. Have a great day. Thank you so much for your testimony.
Thank you.
Next witness I I know is here, Kathy Christofferson,
be virtual. They -- Yes, sir. Alright. You're on.
Alright. Well,
CATHY KRISTOFFERSON - PLAN - HB 3137 - Good morning, Chairman Roy, committee members. My name is Kathy Christofferson, as the chair just read, I am testifying today for the pipeline awareness network for the Northeast or PLAN. I am testifying in strong support of House 3137, an act relative to interveners and utility work. Specifically Section 1, which seeks to expand the voices allowed entry into proceedings at the department. Plan was formed of leaders from multiple organizations in 2015 with a mission for working to prevent the overbuild of gas infrastructure and to champion clean sustainable energy solutions. We formed to participate in the regulatory and legal arenas involving approvals for the gas610 industry that set the stage for that overbuild612 of infrastructure. At the DPU, that is mainly long range forecast in supply plans and gas contracts. From the outset we engaged experienced legal counsel and experts from the energy and environmental fields.
Although we have accepted as full parties in the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, our own Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities denies us full party status at every turn. In fact, starting in 2015, in eight successive gas proceedings in which we filed motions of intervention with the same council an expert that had been admitted, into the New Hampshire PUC, we were denied. We have stayed very much involved in the energy policy work that we don't try to intervene anymore and have seen that things have not changed at the DPU. At the end of last year, the657 Conservation Law Foundation and the659 Sierra Club were both denied full party status in the DPU 22107 Star Gas proceeding. In the hearing officer's ruling, the department once again justified denial, as exercising their self described broad discretion. Again, shutting out non industry voices, only the DOER, another state agency was granted status. Our experience shows that if the preceding petitioner, typically the gas685 or electric company, protests of a motion filed for full party689 intervener status, the DPU will deny the motion.
H 3137 would simply change the may of Chapter 30A, Section 10 to a shall. We are not asking to take away the requirement of adherence to all DPU rules, we at Plan are not asking for pro se access, that language is new. We have testified before this, joint committee in previous sessions, the legislation with similar language filed first as H 3400 by late Representative Kulick, and again, as 2812 by Rep Blais. Without full724 party status, there's no access to discovery,726 no expert testimony, no participation in evidentiary hearings. As we said in 2019, we're not asking for something unreasonable, we're asking for a fair process. Please report 3137 out favorably, include its provisions in the next climate omnibus. Thank you for listening, and I will submit this testimony as written for the bits that I skipped, and for the many citations of all of the denials. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you so much. Any questions?
Seeing none, I thank you for your testimony, and we'll take it under consideration. Thank you much. Elena Weissman, I skipped over you, didn't realize you were here, you are next up to testify.
SPEAKER4 - I didn't even know that I was skipped over, so it's okay. Good morning.
SPEAKER1 - Well, then I776 take that back.
SPEAKER5 - I'm used to it with
SPEAKER4 - a w last name now.
So
ELENA WEISSMANN - VOTE SOLAR - HB 3221 - SB 2097 - HB 3223 - SB 2088 - SB 2149 - HB 3137 - Good morning, Chair, Roy, and all members of the committee. Like you said, my name is Elena Weissmann, I'm the Northeast regional director with Vote Solar. If we haven't worked with you, we're a nonprofit organization that advocates for an equitable and accessible clean energy future, thank you for this opportunity. So I wanted to highlight a couple of Bills that we're supportive of that help meet the needs of the dual crises that we're facing right now. The climate crisis and unaffordable utility rates and Bills are, of course, disproportionately high for ratepayers in EJ and low income communities of color. It is past time for us to transition to clean, distributed, and affordable energy generation sources in a way from the expensive and volatile fossil fuel market. So as a starting point, we support Rep Ryan's H 3221 about energy equity. There is a lack of data on disproportionate energy burdens in Massachusetts, and it's really important that we are able to determine which households bear the highest burdens so we can ensure that our efforts to844 lower bills are focused on those with the highest need. We would recommend that the results of that proposed study be made publicly available.
Next, we also support Rep Consalvo's utility Bills, discount Bill that would require utilities to proact and transparently provide information on all available discounts, and we would recommend extending that to all ratepayers and not just those enumerated in the text. Another Bill with impact would be further amplified by Senator Creem's heat resilience Bill, that's S 2097. Our temperatures and our energy bills are both skyrocketing, especially in urban heat Islands and in EJ communities where energy burdens are already disproportionately high for low income and bipoc residents. So this would be a really critical relief measure and we especially appreciate the provision in there to prohibit shutoffs during heat emergencies, which are, of course, becoming more and more common during the climate crisis. We are also, in terms of utility Bills, supportive of Rep Sabadosa and Senator Mark's utility pricing Bill and Senator Comerford utility rate Bill. We really do need a reasonable cap on utility rate increases and tying that cap to inflation, and equity returns in neighboring states is an effective idea. We also appreciate those Bills connection to performance based rate making, which is a practice our office is proud to support and implement across the country.
There really is not any reason for utilities to be ranking in record profits without any capped protection of ratepayers. Then lastly, similar to Cathy, we are really excited to see two Bills that will help facilitate public engagement and regulatory proceedings at the DPU. This is, of course, an arena that's been really for too long dominated by for profit utility companies who have the means to intervene in cases. There's a lot more to be done, including setting up intervener compensation, but Rep Murphy and Rep Armini's Bills both reflect recommendations that our stakeholder working group, convened by the AG's office, published last month to make the DPU more accessible to everyday base staters. I believe we sent the report to each of your offices, but I can do so again, if not. I just want to reiterate that the decisions made at the DPU really do carry deep impact for our lives and our communities, and we want to make sure that people's ability to help shape those decisions don't depend on finances if the DPU even determines they can intervene at all. So thank you again. I know I just went a couple seconds over I had, happy to answer questions and be in touch with any of your offices and look forward to future hearings on our other priority Bills this session. Thank you so much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Let me see if there are any questions.
Any in Internet land. I see no questions. Thank you so much for your testimony. Appreciate it, and look forward to working with you on this. Next witness to testify is Kevin O'Shea. Kevin, I understand you're virtual as well. Be well.
Yes, Mister Chairman. Thank you for the time today.
Good to see you.
SPEAKER6 - You as well.
KEVIN O'SHEA - NATIONAL GRID - HB 3221 - Chair Roy, members of the committee, thank you again for your time. It is my pleasure to be before the committee once again. Kevin O'Shea, director of government affairs at National Grid, and I'm here to respectfully submit testimony on behalf of my company. I'm here to testify in support of H 3221, submitted by Representative Ryan, an act relative to energy bill equity. The Massachusetts 2015 decarbonization roadmap estimates that the necessary total energy system cost associated with achieving net zero emissions by 2050 will be nearly $24,000,000,000. These system upgrades are critical to the commonwealth achieving our shared goals of net zero, but this increase in overall system cost is expected to be passed on to Massachusetts residents and businesses through utility Bills. National Grid believes now is an appropriate time given the massive infrastructure on the horizon to achieve that's era, to examine the energy burden of utility customers in Massachusetts.
This Bill would require DOER to investigate policy and regulatory mechanisms to improve affordability and equity. The study would explore topics including energy procurements and incentive programs, energy efficiency programs, climate resilience and adaptation program funding, current bill structures for electricity and gas consumers within the Commonwealth, and rate payer affordability. It is commonly accepted that an energy burden over 6% is considered overburdened. According to a study done by Fisher Sheen and Colton titled Home Energy Affordability Gap, Massachusetts, households of incomes below 50% of the federal property level paying average of 51% of their annual income simply for their home energy bills. I want to be clear that home energy on affordability is not only a burden of the very poor, bills for households with incomes between 150 and 185% of the federal property level take up to 12% of their income for their energy burdens, and between those numbers, it also equals 11% of their income.
While Massachusetts has programs to assist low income customers in paying their energy bills and initial leading energy efficiency programs with Mass Save, to reduce energy usage, utility customers in New England still face some of the highest energy costs anywhere in the nation. It's our hope that you will report favorably upon this Bill and allow Massachusetts to join states like California, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to examine the energy burdens faced by ratepayers and provide recommendations for policies and programs to reduce energy costs and improve energy affordability. Thank you for your1196 time.
REP ROY - Thank you for your testimony. I have one quick question. Did you give an estimate at the very beginning of your testimony as how much this was going to cost?
O'SHEA - The general in the 2050 decarbonization road map that the state published, the estimate for the system upgrades necessary to hit net zero or estimated around $24,000,000,000.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
to 520. That's the system
ROY - The system upgrades?
O'SHEA - Correct. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?
Seeing none, I thank you for your testimony.1234 Look forward to seeing you again. Take care. Next witness who's here with us, Kyle Murray.
KYLE MURRAY - ACADIA CENTER - HB 3143 - SB 2088 - Chair Roy, Vice Chair Haggerty, members of the committee, my name is Kyle Murray, I'm the Massachusetts program director for Acadia Center. We are a nonprofit research and advocacy1267 organization that works to advance1269 bold, effective, and equitable, clean energy solutions. We have a long history of advocacy for creating a fully integrated flexible and low carbon energy grid and the reforms the utility business model needed to support it, including actively participating in Eversource's 2017-2022 rate case and National Grid 2019 rate case. I'm here today in support of H 3143, and S 2088, an act protecting consumers from unreasonable utility rate increases filed by Representative Blais, and Senator Comerford,1305 respectively.1305 In 2018, the DPU's decision in the Eversource rate case approved four major proposals, opposed by 58 organizations and businesses, as well as the Attorney General that are bad1317 for ratepayers and move us further away1319 from a future with consumer control and widespread locally produced clean energy. National Grid asked for the same treatment in its rate case and achieved a similar result.
The legislature addressed one of these significant issues mandatory residential demand charges in1334 the 2018 act to advance clean energy. Now it's the time to address1338 others unreasonable high returns on equity and automatic annual rate hikes at 3 to 4% per year. Passing H 3143 and S 2088 would address these issues. So in1354 the traditional regulatory model, utilities make profits by earning specified rates of return on capital expenditures, such as construction of poles, wires, and pipelines. An excessively high rate of return on these investments or equity incentivizes the utility to invest in infrastructure over all other priorities. To maximize the profits, shareholders will demand the utility double down on prioritizing capital investments and discourage it from evaluating whether lower cost, local, clean energy options could be a better solution, it also adds significantly to consumers' rates. High returns on equities have cost Massachusetts ratepayers around an additional $34,000,000 per year.
In the Eversource rate case, the DPU approved a return on equity of 10%, a level far above the region wide average. In a 2019 National Grid case, the company asked for even more, 10.5%. Eversource similarly sought a return of equity on 10.5% in its rate case. These returns are significantly higher than the 9.275% approved in National Grid's 2018 rate case in Rhode Island, 9.25% 2017 Connecticut rate case, and 9% approved in a 2018 rate case. There's no reason why Massachusetts ratepayers must pay greater returns to utility shareholders than their neighbors especially not for the same types of investments and locations subject to the same capital markets. I'm going to submit this in writing, but we can't really see it, but we include a graph that shows Massachusetts compared to some of the other states of the region, and you can see we're pretty significantly higher than our surrounding neighborhoods with no particular reason for that. So part of this Bill would just basically limit the ROI to the regional average, basically not asking for anything special, just saying what the other states in the region have done.
So the other one provision this Bill is a little more complicated, it has to do with a concept called a productivity factor, which is basically, you know, compensating utilities for being productive. However, as we ask the utilities to use less and less energy, they're being sort of, you know, less productive. So in 2018, maybe 2019, Eversource asked for and received what's called a negative C factor, that has never been done in this country before. National Grid asked for it1518 later in a year and also got that, it has never been repeated in this country, and, you know, we're really an outlier on that. So part of this Bill would prevent that so called negative X factor. There's really no reason to compensate the utilities for being less productive over time. So, thank you for allowing me to testify today, and I'm happy to answer any questions on this.
ROY - Can you give a greater explanation as to what a negative x factor is?
MURRAY - Sure. So basically, what it meant was that the DPU in that case, approved automatic adjustments to Eversource's rate case at 1.5% above inflation1585 over that time here. So it's productivity factors sort of compared to inflation and so this negative productivity factor was basically 1.5% above inflation, which, you know, doesn't particularly makes sense. Am I explaining it1601 well, or should I? I'll follow-up. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Sorry. Not particularly explaining it well. No
Any other questions from the committee? Representative.
SPEAKER9 - Thanks, Derek.
REP FERNANDES - Can you just enlighten me as to when the next period is for the utilities to come in, asking for a rate hike? Can you see that being a different environment with the change in administration that seems to be a lot more consumer focused rather than focused on bringing out a lot of money to utilities, then what do you just know the bridges of inspection did?
MURRAY - Sure. So Eversource just went through a rate case in 2022, Acadia Center intervened in that. They asked for 10.5%, they did only receive, I believe, it's 9.8%, if I recall, but that's still above the regional average. National Grid should be having a rate case somewhat soon and I would hope that this administration's department of public utilities would be more consumer focused and more focused on rates but you know, we never know until we see these decisions. Rate cases are extremely complicated, there are hundreds upon hundreds of1682 pages of documents that are very difficult to parse, and frankly, the DPU is a bit under gunned. They don't have the staff to really fully investigate as much as we would hope. So while we would hope there would be better consumer protections, I think enshrining this in law1703 would help us out there. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Any other questions?
Thank you so much. We'll forward to meeting you again.
Next witness is Joy Robinson Lynch. I believe you're a virtual. Joy?
Yes. I'm here.
Excellent. I'm able.
JOY ROBINSON LYNCH - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3700 - Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify, and I'm testifying in favor of Representative Fernandes H 3700. I'm very happy that he introduced1737 this legislation partially in response to, I'm in West Tisbury to others on Martha's Vineyard in his district and then he discovered across the state who have unbeknownst to them, private lines delivering their electricity. So I just need to tell you more a little story of our neighborhood. If you think back to the terrible winter of 2014, 2015 when the snow piled over our heads, and it was bitter cold, during one of those cold snaps in February, the power went out along our little dirt road at night, leaving us with that electricity and heat, we called Eversource,1786 and they repaired it1788 up to a certain point and then in the middle of the night, they said that's as far as we can go, we're going home, you're on your own, you own this part of the line. Not only where we were sitting in the dark and the cold, we knew that we had a neighbor who was home from the hospital recently, having had a stroke and we begged and pleaded with Eversource to please repair this little section so that we could get through the night, and they said they're not allowed to, they left.
We had to make investigations, we had to hire a private company to come in as an emergency and repair the line. So I started following up with Eversource. What does this mean? How did this happen? What can we do? Can you take over our line? So next time there's an emergency, you can repair it. Well, they were willing to do it if we put in probably a $1,000,000 worth of upgrade beyond the upgrade that they do. I argued with them and said, but I pay you a fee every month for delivery but you're delivering it over my line, and they kind of shrugged. So I'm very proud that our Representative is introducing this legislation where I need to be informed ahead that I have a private line, that it would be on my bill every month, and I would know I had a private line. Secondly, that Eversource would need to compensate me for repair and upkeep of that line if they're going to charge a delivery fee. I and my neighbors are speaking in support of this, this is support us against the large utility who holds all the cards. I thank you1917 for the opportunity to testify, and I'm willing to answer questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Well, thank you, Joy, for your testimony, and I can sure you were we're all very proud of representing a finances way.
So any oh, I wanna
recognize Reb Souza has joined us as well. Are there any questions from anyone on the committee? What comments do?
FERNANDES - I'll just comment briefly to say1944 thank you Joy for tuning in and for your advocacy, and I think it's really1950 moving your story and expressing what you and your neighbors went through, and that's not just you guys, we found out there's over 10,000 private poles across the state, not just on the Vineyard, and that's just polls, there's probably X factor many more lines that are private as well. So it's a huge issue on Martha's Vineyard, but a huge consumer protection issue stabilized as well. So thank you for tuning in from the Island. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
There's nothing I like better than democracy, but Zoom you know, this is electronics has made it much easier to be a good citizen to say.
Well, if you had invited us, we would have conducted this hearing on Martha That's what they all say.
Any other questions from the committee? Seeing none, thank you very much for your testimony. And our next witness here is Christopher Stock, who's in person.
CHRISTOPHER STARK - MASS INSURANCE FEDERATION - HB 3686 - Thank you, Chairman Roy, and members Committee. Christopher Stark, I'm the executive director of the Mass Insurance Federation. I was just starting to feel very at home in this committee after the last few hearings, but I think that this is the last Bill that I have to testify before you on. So I'm here today for H 3686 by Representative Day. This legislation is an important consumer protection, it focuses on notices for home heating oil insurance to be delivered by the fuel dealers. If we go back to 2008 and Chapter 453 of that year, we set a standard for oil heat insurance in the Commonwealth for home heating oil tanks to be insured, the insurance companies have to make available the coverage and in exchange, the homeowners have to make sure that they are complying with these statutory requirements of environmental protection, and remediation of the tanks by putting sleeves, gauges, and other things on the tanks.
The status quo we believe does work, there was a hearing yesterday with your colleagues and financial services on a Bill that would just make this coverage mandatory for everyone, we're opposed to that legislation because 75% of the population would then be charged for an insurance coverage that they're not going to use. But for the 25% that do have oil heat, we do believe the status quo can work, but education is a missing component out of this. Last year, when the story garnered news all across the state, the Boston Globe ran an article on it, afterwards, I was fielding calls for several days from homeowners concerned about how they can protect their assets should an oil leak occur out of their tank. Walk them through the process, many call2133 me back within days letting me know that they've gotten their tanks inspected, reached out to their insurer, and now have the peace of mind of insurance coverage for those tanks. So the status quo can work, just need to work collaboratively on the education component and in my written testimony, for the first time, I'll be putting forth language to also include insurance companies as part of the notification process.
We want to be part of the solution with this but we do believe that probably the best source of this notification would come from the fuel dealers. They obviously know where these tanks are since they are putting the fuel into them and likely to have a better response from a notice that is attached to their bill or something else than a notice that's going to be from their2182 insurance company that they, unfortunately, may or may not pay as much attention to as we would like. So with that, I welcome any questions, but this is an important pro consumer piece and regardless of where we had with the other Bill, although I personally hope that it's sent to study, I think that this education component is important for us to move forward on either way. So thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Well, thank you for your testimony. And the bill that was in financial services was my bill, so I appreciate your comments on that.
Anybody else2213 have any questions from the committee? Please.
STARK - There's a a concern from a liability perspective for them, which we share when we reached out to the agents to see if they want to participate as well, they had a concern of being included from an E&O that their liability perspective if somebody accused them of not providing the notice. We'd be happy to work with the committee both for ourselves if I think Chairs are going to be2249 part of the notification. But for also the fuel2251 dealers to ensure that either it's, you know, just manage by a regulator that they can penalize them if it's a business practice if they're not providing the notice but I do see that point. There probably needs to be some level of protection that somebody can't just accuse their fuel oil dealer of saying, you didn't provide me this notice, now you're on the hook for the hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage that this oil caused.
So we are sensitive to that, we would be happy to work with the committee on providing that2280 level of protection that, yes, it might be able to be a defense for them if they were able to prove that it was a business practice or something like that and not necessarily a one off or a mistake. So that's where their concern is, obviously, if we are going to insert ourselves into this bill and share in the notification, we probably have a similar concern, although, you know, the chances of the insurance company being able to have the file on the log of that is probably higher than the small business delivery truck driver. So we are sensitive to that and would be more than happy to work with the committee to make sure that we put some safeguards around how their liability could be assessed. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Yeah. Totally. Any other questions?
Seeing done? Thank you for your testing. Thank you. Next witness who signed up is Ron Dagostino. I understand it's virtual. Ron?
Yes. Can you see and hear me? Can you see me? Yes. Indeed.
Great.
RON DAGOSTINO - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3700 - I am also from Martha's Vineyard, and I am also here to testify in favor of Representative Fernandes Bill, H 3700, an act relative to consumer protection and private utility lines and polls. So everybody should know that their house has private utility lines, it sounds like joy did not know. I could tell you, I did not know, and guess when I found out? When it broke and it costs a lot of money to fix. Everybody should know, the bills are going to be enormous when it breaks and repairs can sometimes take more than a week, it took at least a week on this road at one point.2393 It was confusing, it was frustrating, and it2397 can even lead to lawsuits. So reliable electricity is obviously critical, but if we're going to meet our climate goals, it's hard to believe it's actually going to become even more critical. Try being without a heat pump in the dead of summer or in the dead of winter, I mean, this needs to be resolved. So it would really be great for you to pass this Bill. I just wanted to add my support to it, and I hope you will pass it. Thank you, Representative Fernandes. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Ron. Are there any questions from the committee?
Seeing none, I thank you for your testimony, and look forward to working with the representative of Fernandez on this issue. Next witness who is here in person is Mark Diane. Mark, floor is yours.
I'm not meeting members. Congratulations on high attendance today etcetera. Sending a new mark for attention to these issues.
I believe it's a 100% attendance.
I couldn't count that high, but it was clearly a larger move. That's it. I don't see no. I said, why don't you you that I know personally. I'm here today. Thanks for calling me.
MARK CARNEY - GAS TRANSITION ALLIES - HB 3137 - SB 2097 - SB 2134 - I am here today as a representative of the Gas Transition Allies organization, primarily talking about H 3137 which is a Bill that would increase the openness and visibility for towns and for community activists into what the gas companies are doing either in rate cases or in their work in replacing the pipes in the cities that they have. It deals with two separate issues. One is an issue of is the Department of Public Utilities to be instructed to allow a longer list of interveners than now occurs? And the organizations that have been intervening on rate cases over the past several years have found both communities, representatives, nonprofit organizations and individuals have found that the door to being an intervener in the rape cases has been shut by the Department of Utilities2546 as they now have the authority to do2548 in many cases and the purpose of one part of H 3137 is to require the DPU to admit interveners on rate cases a broader list of interveners.
The list being municipalities themselves, Representatives or Senators from the districts that are affected by the rate case, non profits involved in rate design or rate issues and individuals petitioning to be in more than 10 who are affected by the district, soo that's one part of the Bill. It would deal with an issue that has come up repeatedly, and there'll be other witnesses talking about this later today of being denied access to those rate cases, but not to the effects of the rate cases when they're decided, so that's one. The second part, and there'll be some municipal officials to talk about this later on, is2600 that, right now, in practice, the gas companies do not respond in a timely or in some cases accurate fashion to requests from the municipalities as to their plans for digging up the streets and replacing the pipes. That has led in my hometown of Newton and in other places of the city literally repaving a2623 street and then discovering that the gas company plans to rip up that street and put in a new gas line or to repair a leak.
I think the technical term is stupid and expensive for the towns and cities involved. The second part of 3137 would require the utilities to provide timely and accurate information to municipalities about those plans. So, that's the sum and substance of it, you know, I generally come before you for2661 more sweeping legislation effects and will again, but we think of this anyway as a niche piece of legislation that opens up the process on the regulatory side and that avoids this kind of, I can't think of a good term, craziness but that is actually occurring. I mean, on some level, you think, that can't be happening, but we're going to have officials from Wellesley and from other people saying, yes, it's happening every week. These things happen, and that's the sort2706 of thing that I think you all can correct by a piece of legislation that has been put forward, so that's one.
That was my intention to just talk that much, but I have to mention two other Bills that have been brought to my attention on the bus in today. Senate 2097 and S 2134, both of which allow or require that the state support low income individuals in purchasing air conditioning. I think the general concept that says air conditioning has gone in the past couple of years from being a luxury to being a necessity is correct, and the general thrust of these Bills is correct as well. But as written, they do not specify that the air conditioner is so purchased would be efficient or heat pumps, as well as air conditioner. Again, this is a minor change in the legislation, but we strongly recommend that we do that, otherwise, we will be back before you next year, asking them for money to replace the air conditioners with heat pumps to deal with decarbonization. Again, you can save a lot of money by doing so small thing there. Again, I thank you for2775 the time, I'm open to questions on any of2777 these. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you so much. Any questions from the committee? Yes.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Any other questions?
And Comey's other praise for me is also welcome.
Anyway, thank you very much. We'll reduce that to writing. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Thanks, sir.
Our next witness, which I believe is on the same topic as Lisa Olney, Lisa.
If
LISE OLNEY - WELLSLEY SELECT BOARD - HB 3137 - Thank you very much, Chair, and members of the committee. My name is Lise Olney, I'm a member of the Wellesley Select board and I'm testifying today on behalf of the town of Wellesley's climate action committee on which I also serve. Since 2018, I've been working with the Metropolitan2849 Area Planning Council and Mothers Out-front, organizing municipal officials and advocates in National Grid territory to try to make progress on gas leaks. After five years of coordinating this multi town gas leak's initiative, including many meetings with National Grid, we've seen almost no progress, but we have identified some key2871 frustrations in our cities and towns. First, municipalities just2876 don't have enough information about the2878 gas system, and we have no authority to require that information. Second, municipalities have no voice in the decisions that are made about the gas system in our jurisdictions. Third, gas leaks are killing our public shade trees and really undermining our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
So thanks to Representative Armini, our frustrations have been translated into H 3137. This Bill would allow municipalities to intervene in proceedings of the DPU. It would grant municipalities the right to compensation from a gas company for damage to public shade trees and other property due to gas leaks or gas construction. Perhaps most significantly, it would give municipalities the authority to require information from the gas companies about our gas infrastructure. So just a few weeks ago, at Wellesley's Annual Town meeting, we actually had to pull a $3,500,000 road construction project off of the warrant because National Grid suddenly announced a major gas main replacement on the same stretch of road. The project had been on our capital plan for years and is considered a high priority due to safety reasons. The town anticipated funding the storm water portion of the project with time limited ARPA funds, and construction was scheduled to begin this summer.
Planning had been going on for months to ensure adequate funding capacity and staffing for the project, but it all had to2968 be deferred because of the basic lack information from National Grid. As you know, many energy related Bills take years to have an impact, but this Bill would actually have an immediate effect by allowing Wellesley and other municipalities just critical basic information about what is going on under our streets, and by allowing us to plan more strategically. It would also allow us to push through the repair of the most wasteful highest volume gas leaks which are undermining all our efforts to reach our climate goals. So thank you very much. I hope you will report 3137 out favorably. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Right. Thank you so much for your testimony.3008 Are there any questions?
Seeing done? I thank you for your test -- -- very much. And at this time, I'd like to call on my good friend, Senator Wall to Timothy. Come on up and join us. Good to see you.
single movements of the committee, and you're outstanding staff. Thank you very much. It is great to be here with you. Thank you.3033
SEN TIMILTY - SB 2184 - Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee.3037 Again, thank you very much for this opportunity. I am here to testify today in support of a Bill that I filed, Senate Bill 2184. Senate Bill 2184 is an act relative3047 to requiring notification of hazardous utility work to local and regional emergency departments. This Bill will require utility companies to notify both local and regional police, fire, and EMS, and all other related public work agencies that would be germane to the specific project of any hazardous public work project conducted by any utility company or an independent contractor within their jurisdiction. The impetus of this Bill for me, myself personally, was triggered by a December 2016 incident which became a tragedy in the town of Braintree. In that incident, a diver inspecting a water3085 tower and Braintree perished when his air supply was halted. Moreover despite best efforts from his spotter who could not pull him from the freezing waters, the spotter then jumped in the waters courageously trying to save his coworker.
Soon both the spotter and the diver were in distress and fighting for their lives. Fortunately, there was a spotter on the ground outside of the water tank and put a call into Braintree police and fire, they responded immediately. In Norfolk County, we have an outstanding technical rescue team, which specializes in water rescues, high tower rescues and French rescues. They were battling 50 mile an hour gusts, and tragically, the diver perished. The spotter was saved and caused tragedy all around. Minutes matter when it comes to response time for police and fire, we all know that, that's something we can all agree upon. If contracts and utility companies were mandated that they had to notify police and fire in any situation, minutes would be shaved off the response time. Braintree police and fire had no idea what they were dealing with when they ran down there, had no idea that these poor unfortunate folks were working inside the tower, they were going to be facing a water rescue, there was no prior knowledge.
So certainly seconds, I believe minutes would have been saved. I'm not going to go out and say on a limb and say a life would have been saved, who knows? But minutes do matter when it comes to emergency response, and I believe if contractors in utility companies3176 had to notify police and fire ahead of time and DPW, I believe for sure that minutes would be saved on response times if, of course, you hate3186 to think about it, you hesitate, but in case3188 of an emergency, minutes definitely would be saved and with that, there's a better chance of saving lives. So with that, I'm more than happy to answer any questions and I look forward to working with you, Mr. Chair, and the distinguished members of this committee. Thank you so much.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
forward on this legislation, which I believe is common sense legislation for all of us.
ROY - Can you just tell me in this type of a situation, what type of a notice would this legislation require3217 the utility to give?
TIMILTY - Well, you know, I'm certainly flexible on that,3221 Mr. Chair, I believe 24 hours would be sufficient.
3224 ROY3224 -3224 But,3224 I mean, what information, just that they're going to be conducting a hazardous activity?
TIMILTY - Yes, the type of work that's going to be done. I do believe, you know, a utility or a contractor might quibble and say, well, how do you define hazardous? We all know what hazardous is, we all know what is dangerous and what is not, its common3243 sense. But 24 hours notice with just specification as to what kind of job was being performed and the number of people, I think that would be a huge help. You know, originally, the Braintree Fire chief brought this to my attention. So it is something that I believe public safety would welcome. My capacity as the Chair of public safety and homeland security, I work an awful lot with the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts and with professional firefighters in Mass and with various police chiefs, I am confident would welcome this from the discussions that I've had over the years in that role. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Great. Any questions from anyone on the committee? Seeing none, I I wanna thank you for, again, for your tireless ad and always looking out for a little guy in these situations. Appreciate your continued work.
Well, thank you, Mister Chir. It's always a privilege to work with you and your colleagues here on the committee. you all. Hope everybody has a nice day. You too. Thank you.
Our next witness to testify is Sharon Davos. in Sharon I believe is virtual. Sharon? Hello.
Can you hear me?
Yes. Indeed.
Very good.
SHARON DAVOS - GAS TRANSITION ALLIES - HB 3137 - Thank you for this opportunity to testify in support of this important Bill, H 3137, an act relative to interveners and utility work. It is sponsored by Representatives Armini and Owens and also by Senator Creem. So thank you very much Chair Roy and all the members3348 of the TUE committee.3350 I am a member of mothers out front Cambridge, and the mother's out front legislative team, as well as gas transition Allies. I have major concerns about the lack of transparency and sharing of critical information on the part of utility companies serving Massachusetts communities. The citizens of Massachusetts municipal officials and legislators need to know that serious steps are being taken to reduce the methane leaks and the risks of explosions and fires due to significant gas leaks from our gas infrastructure. It is very disturbing to hear testimony from public officials, from Newton, Wellesley, and Arlington share their experiences with explosions and fires, as well as recent repairs that when checked turn out to continue to have grade one leaks.
Towns throughout Massachusetts are seeing little to no progress in reducing the methane leaks, which are due to aging infrastructure. It is critical that municipalities have a voice in decisions that are made about the gas system under their streets. Municipalities concerns need to be addressed, and they need to have access to have information as it becomes available. H 3137 will make an immediate difference by allowing municipalities to require such information including condition of pipes, repair history, number of leaks within their towns that have significant environmental impact, as well as estimated annual cost of lost gas from leaks in their towns and estimated costs and time frame for making repairs and pipe replacement. Not having access to this information interferes with public works planning and assurance that people's health and safety are protected. Rate payers deserve to know how much money they are paying for elite gas that has a significant negative impact on achieving the state and municipality's climate goals. There is an urgent need for citizens, municipalities, and legislators to have access to this information. Please vote favorably and pass H 3137 out of committee. Thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much for your testimony. Are there any questions for the witness? Yep. Mister Chairman, just please.
Not a question, just a comment. I just wanna say thanks to mothers out French came mothers out front3546 Cambridge for all the work they do on on this and and other3550 things both locally and and statewide. So thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you for all that you are doing. All of you. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Our next witness to testify, Frederick Brown?
FREDRICK BROWN - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3680 - Good morning, and thank you for giving me this opportunity. I'm here to testify on behalf of I think it's 3680, but it's the Bill filed by my Representative, Bob Consalvo, relative to requiring utilities to notify seniors, veterans, and persons with disabilities if they offer a discount to them to actively notify them of that. I'll tell you why. I asked Representative Consalvo3599 to3599 file this Bill on my behalf because two years ago on my 69th birthday, I discovered that3614 the Boston Water and Sewer commission offered a 30% discount to seniors and that meant3620 I had gone four years without taking advantage of that. I'm a fairly well educated man, I actually am a retired professor from Bunker Hill Community College and I tried to keep up on things, but I was totally unaware that this discount existed. I'm not even sure, to be honest with you, how I discovered it did exist and so I3642 started thinking about, I happen to know a lot about the Philippines where they3646 actually give discounts to every senior in everything, not just in utilities.
But I said, well, at least for utilities here in Massachusetts, it might be good if, in fact, utilities offered discounts to seniors, and I thought too, seniors, I think, are frequently thought of as people who have lesser income, and I certainly have less since I retired. But I also thought that veterans especially those who have disabilities or injuries due to their service and people with disabilities, they oftentimes have lesser income as well. So they would benefit by at least being notified actively by the utilities if they offered a discount. I'd love to have it a requirement that the utility offer the discount, but that's for a future piece of legislation. But I ask for your support in recommending this Bill out of committee to the full legislature for passage, hopefully. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Well, Fred, thank you very much. for your testimony. Let me see if a committee has any questions. I see none. Thank you very much, Erin. I'll say, tell rep, Consolvo you were here. Okay. great.
A good stop, I saw this happen.
Right? At this time, call up my friend, Senator Moore, to offer testimony.
Great to see you. See you again. Some day.
So
SEN MOORE - SB 2153 - SB 2154 - Good morning, Chairman Roy, and committee members, and thank you for taking me out of turn this morning. I am here this morning to testify on two Bills. One is Senate 2153 which is an act relative to transparency and private utility construction contracts. The other one is Senate 2154, resolves establishing a commission to study study energy rate procurement related to investor owned utilities and consumer relief. As you all know, Massachusetts residents faced extraordinary increases in the utility bills this past winter season, there is a more sustainable and fair way forward as outlined in Senate 2154, a resolve establishing a commission to study engine energy rate procurement related, to investor owned utilities and consumer relief. These increases imposed incredible hardship on our constituents who only sought3785 to keep themselves warm during the coldest months of the year. In3789 response to the increases, the Department of Public Utilities after months of inaction announced that they had opened an investigation into procurement of energy rates by utilities.
However, this was only announced after the very last day in office for the previous administration. While this investigation is welcome news, it is also long overdue and does not go far enough to protect consumers in Massachusetts. We cannot hold our breath for the Department of Public Utilities to act. In fact, in 2015, DPU opened a similar investigation only for the investigation to sit inactive since 2016. A repeat of this pattern ending in no relief for the people of the Commonwealth is unacceptable, and not an outcome we all want. The legislature must act quickly, we are only a few short months away from this issue rearing its head again. Senate 2154 in essence, elevate DPU's investigation to a legislative commission made up of legislators, executive branch officials, investor owned utilities, and a consumer advocate. The commission would be tasked with studying and making recommendations to improve the procurement of energy rates by investor owned utilities. Basically, right now, if you look at the larger utility companies, they cannot make a one long term rate purchase, so they have to do it every six months where we have some of3897 our municipal owned that can if they see a rate that's advantageous3901 to the consumer, they can make a long term purchase.
So that rate is going to be a lower rate for our consumers that are constituents to pay. So right now,3911 we have large utility companies that are at a disadvantage, we need to try3915 to find a compromise where if there's a rate that's advantageous to our consumers, these large utility investor owned companies can make that purchase so that we have a lower rate, and we don't have to deal with what we dealt with last year. I would also like to voice my support for an act3933 relative3933 to transparency in private utility construction contracts. This Bill is a common sense measure to increase transparency and limit cost for certain state contracts. The Bill requires a company who wins a public bid for a private utility construction project to disclose the bid and notify other responsible bidders of the terms. This will increase competition and drive down costs while ensuring that Massachusetts taxpayers have a full understanding of how their tax dollars are being expensed. I appreciate your time this morning. If there are any questions, I'm perfectly happy to answer any questions for you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Right.
But, again, thanks for taking me out of order and allowing you to testify monitored.
SPEAKER1 - Any questions from the committee?
Seeing done, I wanna thank you for your continued advocacy on consumers, and I appreciate your testimony today.
Thank you. Look forward to working with you again. Thank you. Thank you.
Let me go through the3994 list. I'm not sure any others are here,3996 but I'll go through the list just3998 in case.
I had Anna Anita Roy Dobbs.
Anita Roy Dobbs are you with us. virtually.
No, brucey Moulton,
Jonie Parker?
Yes, all right. How did you do that? What do you You you have a real thing to a drum. Uh-huh.
It's just good timing. Yep.
SPEAKER1 - Perfect.
SPEAKER18 - Yeah. Thanks.
JONI PARKER - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3137 - I am Joni Parker, and I'm here testifying for myself, but I'm also the coordinator of Gas Transition Allies. I've been listening to you on my way4045 in and realized that several people have already testified on House Bill4049 3137 but I wanted to be here to make sure that you understand the importance of this from the point of view of the municipalities as you heard from Lise Olney from Wellesley, and you heard from Mark Diane from Newton and there are the people who will be testifying this incredible obstacle that municipalities are seeing and their ability to4073 repair gas leaks and really address the issue of dangerous gas in their municipalities to the point where it's costing them more because of what you heard around the inability to get information from the gas companies, so that's key. Also that we want a Department of Public Utilities that's going to be responsive to their request to make that happen. Finally, just that we want to make sure that grassroots organizations are able to intervene. It's very crucial that we have that democratic process in place. I4108 don't have more to say than that other than to4110 really encourage you4112 to pass out favorably House Bill 3137, there's going to be a Senate Bill related to that as well from Senator Creem, and I hope that you'll take action on this, it's so important and I'll be getting my written testimony online. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Great. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any questions for the witness?
Seeing none of you back here for your testimony. Are we better4136 on the radio or better here in line?
I have to say it's more fun to be here.
Well, there you go. Good answer. I have gone through the list of everyone who has signed up to testify.4147 Is there anyone here that would like to testify on a matter on today's docket that has not signed up to testify. Anybody out online that would like to testify that we didn't
Seeing none, I will call this committee hearing to a close. Thank you very much.
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