If you’ve ever had difficulty working with the MassSave program, S.2082 and H.3160 are the bills you’ve been waiting for.

Common problems like trouble getting an audit scheduled, finding a participating contractor, finding information on energy efficiency incentives, getting the rebates you’re owed and understanding interconnected agency processes for lower income customers, stem largely from the unwieldy, decentralized structure of the MassSave program.

We all pay for MassSave through energy efficiency fees on our utility bills. The program should be working for us! Right now, the MassSave incentives and programs are designed and run by the various utility companies across the state. Entrusting our energy efficiency performance to the very for-profit companies that sell us the energy we’re hoping to conserve is a conflict of interests at best.

Also, having it jointly run by the utility companies means that there is no one entity in charge if there are questions or snags in process. There is no one who helps guide customers through engagement with related services, like connecting to CAP agencies to qualify for additional income-based discounts and pre-weatherization repairs and upgrades.

Two bills currently proposed in the Mass State Legislature - one proposed in the Senate and one in the House - call on wholesale restructuring of the MassSave program, taking it out of the hands for the utility companies and putting it under the control of a Board of diverse stakeholders. The Board would elect an Executive Director to manage the program, putting a central office, accountable to a diverse board, in control.

Please use this email to call on your State Legislators to co-sponsor the bills.