Save Mass Save and ACPs (Alternative Compliance Payments)

ZeroCarbonMA has joined with a group of organizations to form the Massachusetts Coalition for Affordable Energy (MCAE), a group working to protect Mass Save and Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) funded programs, which reduce energy costs, support workforce development, expand access to resources for low-income households, and strengthen Massachusetts' clean energy economy. The MCAE Steering Committee includes the following organizations, and is supported by 300+ organizations representing the housing, sustainability, and business community: 350Mass, Green Energy Consumers Alliance, LISC Massachusetts, Mothers Out Front Massachusetts, Northeast Energy Efficiency and Electrification Council, Passive House Massachusetts, Sierra Club Massachusetts, and ZeroCarbonMA.

IMPACTFUL ACTION YOU CAN TAKE NOW - JUNE 2026

Call your State Senator (find here) and tell them you oppose cuts to Mass Save. Every day, they are lobbied by the fossil fuel industry. They need to hear your support. See how much your Senator/Representative’s district has received - and how much they stand to lose - in this folder which has a fact sheet for Mass Save and ACP benefits for Senators and Representatives. Find your Senate/House Representative district here.

MASS SAVE IS AN AFFORDABILITY MULTIPLIER

Slashing funding for our most effective affordability solution for buildings in the name of “affordability” makes no sense. The Massachusetts’ House Legislature’s claims about Mass Save are misinformed and inaccurate.  If enacted, the program will face immediate cuts and completely run out of funds in April 2027.

Mass Save and Alternative Compliance Payment programs - both on the chopping block - lower bills, promote healthier homes, and reduce the need to expand electrical and gas infrastructure.  Mass Save needs strengthening, not weakening.  A basic fact sheet is here in an online form and copied below:

• WHAT IS MASS SAVE?Mass Save is a nation-leading energy affordability and efficiency program that provides extensive programs and rebates for everything from housing and commercial construction to municipal programs like schools, as well as small business and residential energy saving improvements.  It also administers workforce training programs and other programs such as the Mass Save Climate Leaders program.  In short, Mass Save is an affordability multiplier, delivering $3.51 for every dollar invested by the Commonwealth and providing significant economic stimulus across the State.

• WHAT ARE ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE PAYMENTS (ACPs)? Alternative Compliance Payments (ACPs) are penalty fees retail electricity suppliers pay when they fail to meet the state’s mandatory clean and renewable energy portfolio requirements.  The revenue collected is channeled to state agencies such as MassCEC or DOER to fund clean energy development projects across Massachusetts. 

• PROJECTS ALL OVER THE STATE ARE ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK, including badly needed housing and commercial projects in many districts. To search for projects that have received Mass funding and will also suffer a loss of funding in YOUR Representative’s or Senator’s district, please see these important informational fact sheets.

• JOBS ALL OVER THE STATE ARE ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK. The Massachusetts clean energy industry employsmore than 115,000 people, with the industry further supporting an additional 118,136 jobs. and contributes $15.9 billion to the Gross State Product. A majority of these jobs are in energy efficiency, demand management, and clean heating and cooling. 58% of these companies are small businesses with 10 or fewer workers. 74% of these jobs are outside Route 128. But this is just part of the story.

• 60 COMMUNITIES REPRESENTING 33% OF THE STATE’S POPULATION HAVE ADOPTED THE SPECIALIZED CODE, WHICH MANDATES PASSIVE HOUSE CONSTRUCTION IN MULTI-FAMILY BUILDINGS OVER 12,000 SF.  This gold standard of building construction results in 40-60% reduction in utility bills, healthier buildings, increased resiliency, long-term benefits for owners and occupants, as well as decreased loads on the grid. Municipalities have adopted the Specialized Code with the express understanding that Mass Save rebates, incentives and technical assistance will be in place to offset the incremental increase in Passive House construction cost. Without these rebates, communities could choose to repeal the Specialized Code.  

• 35 SPECIALIZED CODE COMMUNITIES HAVE ACHIEVED CLIMATE LEADER STATUS.  As of May 13, 2026, 35 out of 60 communities that have adopted the Specialized Code have achieved Climate Leader status, another program administered by Mass Save. Again, all these communities opted into the Specialized Code with the expectation and promise that this program would be available to them.

• MASS SAVE PROVIDES CRITICAL WORKFORCE TRAINING TO MODERNIZE THE STATE’S WORKFORCE.Mass Save provides critical workforce training to modernize the State’s workforce through multiple pathways, including programs for underserved youth.

• ALONG WITH LOSS OF PROJECT FUNDING, MUNICIPALITIES STAND TO LOSE VALUABLE PROPERTY TAXES AND OTHER ECONOMIC STIMULATION.

• WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THE PROPOSED CUTS ARE ENACTED?  If the legislature advances an additional $1B in cuts to Mass Save, on top of the $500M in previous program cuts, it will result in a devastating estimated loss of $4.5B in total benefits and savings for ratepayers. The clean energy industry contributed $15.9 billion, or roughly 2%, to the Commonwealth’s Gross State Product (GSP) in 2023. The industry’s GSP increased by 74% from 2012-2023, outpacing overall growth in Massachusetts GSP, which grew by 52% over the same time. 

• EMERGING CLIMATE-TECH INVESTMENTS. A robust innovation network is a key driver of the Massachusetts clean energy industry. Innovation support can take numerous forms, including ecosystem support, grants, and direct company investments.  $3.4B was invested across all three stages in early-stage Massachusetts climate tech companies in 2023. There are multiple private and publicly funded accelerator, prototyping, demonstration, internship and commercialization programs in the State.  

• MASS SAVE REDUCES THE NEED FOR UNNECESSARY AND COSTLY ELECTRIC GRID AND GAS PIPELINE EXPANSION, BENEFITING EVERYONE. Investing in energy efficiency translates to billions of dollars in energy savings for all residents by avoiding the need for an unnecessary build-out of the electric grid and further gas expansion.   Even households who don't receive direct incentives still benefit from lower peak loads. According to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, energy efficiency upgrades have reduced peak load to Massachusetts’s grid by more than 1 GW, with the potential to avoid 9.5 GW of peak load by 2050, saving every resident money. Much of the state's grid infrastructure sits idle most of the year, existing just to serve peak demand. 10% of electricity use is responsible for 40% of electricity costs. Efficiency programs could save ratepayers 950 million annually by 2030.

• REDUCING ELECTRIC DEMAND Without Mass Save, the Commonwealth’s electric demand would be around 27.7% higher, resulting in billions of additional costs for supply and infrastructure. Specifically, Mass Save investments made between 2016 and 2024 meant that ratepayers avoided paying around $16.1 billion in electric and gas supply and infrastructure costs alone.

• MASS SAVE IS ALREADY AUDITED Each Mass Save project must pass a cost-benefit test to ensure ratepayer dollars are used wisely.   Unlike gas utility infrastructure spending, the costs of Mass Save are capped and transparent. The House has said that the $1 billion cut will focus on marketing, advertising, and administrative budgets. However, there simply is not anywhere near $1 billion going to those areas.  Given the timing of this legislation, the impacts will largely be felt in the final year of the current plan, 2027. The total planned spending on marketing, advertising, and program administration during this period is only $148 million. Annual administrative fees are 5%, which are low compared with other programs, and translate to $75 million dollars a year based on a $4.5 billion dollar program - a far cry from $1 billion dollars.

• LOW AND MIDDLE INCOME BENEFITS For low-income residents who spend more of their paychecks on energy bills compared to residents statewide, Mass Save interventions can provide particular relief.  In 2024 alone, Massachusetts provided $144 million in federal energy assistance to 159,000 low-income households, 56% of whom were senior citizens. The 2025-2027 Mass Save plan includes a $1.78 billion equity commitment, the strongest in State history, resulting in $1.3 billion dedicated to low- and moderate-income households, over $600 million for renters, and $24 million annually for workforce development 

• TRANSPARENCY While Mass Save costs are transparently shown on utility bills, Massachusetts gas utilities have no obligation to show the true cost of rampant gas utility spending, instead burying these costs into obscure delivery charges, which in the past year have increased by 32%.  Since 2016, Mass Save costs represent only 9% of the growth in gas costs, compared to 35% driven by gas supply costs and 56% by utility infrastructure spending.  As former DPU chairman Jamie van Nostrand explained in “Paying More for Less”, “Aggressive capital spending is driving up customer rates (because) utilities profit from investing in pipes, not selling gas.”

• CORPORATE UTILITY GREED Infrastructure decisions are driven by corporate greed: Massachusetts gas utilities enjoy a 9.9% rate of return on the infrastructure they build, one of the highest profit margins in the nation.  This has incentivized the utilities to adopt practices that reward costly capital buildout at the expense of the ratepayers, such as replacing leaky pipes instead of repairing them for a fraction of the cost.  That’s right - repairing pipes costs $19 thousand dollars a mile, while replacing them costs $4 to 4.6 million dollars a mile.  See this great graphic explanation.

• CORPORATE UTILITY COMPENSATION HAS SOARED. While consumers struggle with higher and higher bills, Eversource’s CEO makes about $15 million dollars a year - one of the highest in the nation - while consumers struggle.  At the same time, the company posted $1.69 billion in earnings — more than double what the company earned the year prior.

• TURNING YOUR THERMOSTAT DOWN IS NOT ENOUGH, which is why Mass Save’s energy efficient programs are so essential, even according to Eversource.  From The Future of Heat, “Today, one-third of charges are for gas and two-thirds are for delivery charges that will not fall with lower use.”  In other words, GSEP has caused residential gas bills to increase 10% each year for the past five years, even though gas customers use 22% less gas than in 2014, with spending increasing 9.3% annually since its inception in 2014. See this great graphic explanation.

• THE UPSHOT: Cutting Mass Save is a $3 Billion Mistake: Mass Save is the single most effective tool to lower energy bills today. The State legislature’s proposed $1 billion cut would result in more than $3 billion in lost energy savings, worsen strain on the grid, require additional build-out of both electric and gas infrastructure, and jeopardize jobs. 

• FLYING UNDER THE RADAR, THE LEGISLATURE HAS ALSO PROPOSED A 70% (NOT A TYPO) CUT TO ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE PAYMENTS. Cuts to this program would also be devastating.  The ACP program funds the following programs, all critical to affordable and equitable housing and energy programs, and particularly important to low-income retrofits.

  • DOER’s Affordable Housing Decarbonization Grant Program has been a key funding source for affordable housing retrofits with $96 million in funding disbursed over three rounds of funding. The program has offered $40K per unit subsidy for retrofit projects. 3,353 units have been supported, with another 5,500 units in the queue.

  • DOER’s Affordable Housing Decarbonization Technical Assistance Program has supported property owners in planning energy efficiency and electrification improvements to their buildings.  

  • DOER’s Advancing Massachusetts Power (AMP) aims to accelerate the equitable deployment of safe energy storage systems across the Commonwealth. It is currently funded at $50M and dozens of affordable housing organizations have applied to this funding source for up to $2.5 million per project.

  • The Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Power Forward initiative aims to get housing connected to the electric grid faster, which will support affordable housing at scale.

  • DOER’s Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) is a long-term sustainable solar incentive program that helps affordable housing organizations make the financial case for solar.

  • DOER’s Clean Energy Siting & Permitting Division streamlines clean energy infrastructure projects.