The gas companies have already floated a number of options, including measures to increase the use of so-called decarbonized fuels, such as hydrogen or biogas, which they say could be delivered to homes and businesses like natural gas is now. The utilities are trying to set the agenda for what is going to be looked at by the DPU, instead of the other way around.” “I always say when we’re negotiating a contract, the person who has the pen controls the conversation,” Tepper said. Healey’s office remains concerned the process favors gas companies, said Rebecca Tepper, chief of Healey’s energy and environment bureau. The state rebuffed the request, saying its order had already established that stakeholders would be involved, and finding that the gas companies were most qualified to hire the consultant. It also sought assurances from the DPU that stakeholders would have a meaningful voice in the process and the agency would oversee the companies’ hiring of a consultant to “ensure that a qualified independent consultant is selected.”
“All of it is a bit disquieting.”Īttorney General Maura Healey, whose office had kicked off the review by petitioning the DPU in June 2020 to open an investigation, said it had assumed the department would run it and not defer so much to the gas companies.
“None of this guarantees a set of biased results, but all of it raises questions,” he said. Senator Mike Barrett, an architect of the state’s landmark climate legislation, said the arrangement at least raises the specter of bias, and at this moment in the climate crisis, when acting quickly is paramount, that can be a problem. They’re worried the state won’t achieve it Related : These lawmakers wrote the climate bill. But some others have remained intensely frustrated about their inability to meaningfully participate.Īnd then there is the issue of the consultant and how much control the utilities will exert on its modeling and recommendations. Mariama White-Hammond, Boston’s chief of environment, energy and open spaces.Īfter a rocky start, some stakeholders said, the gas companies have made efforts recently to ensure outside voices are heard. But I don’t think they should be at the heart of the driver’s seat,” said the Rev. “I do agree that the utilities need to be at the table. The problem with that, according to numerous stakeholders, is that critical decisions - such as which pathways are possible, and what those entail - will have been already made by the time others get to weigh in, and any meaningful changes would be difficult, if not impossible, to make.Īlready, they note, the gas companies schedule and run online meetings where other stakeholders can participate, but the utilities set the agendas and also can choose whether to incorporate other points of view into their plans. clash with incentives offered that promote fossil fuels Related : Efforts to pursue climate goals in Mass. “Because if the process ends up with something the stakeholders universally disagree with, then we have failed. “I think the stakeholder process is there to be, in many regards, the check and balance,” Akley said. Gas companies are committed to a carbon-neutral future, he said, and to recommending options that will satisfy the wide range of groups that have an interest in the outcome.
One of the industry executives involved in the effort, William Akley, who heads the natural gas business at Eversource Energy, acknowledged the concern, but said the fears are misplaced. “The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities is leading the Future of Gas investigation,” it said in a terse statement. The DPU dismissed the groups’ request to have the letter entered into the official record.Īnd in response to questions from the Globe, the agency denies it has ceded any control of the process. Related : Massachusetts should be converting 100,000 homes a year to electric heat.