Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS cost In Radio.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Al Griffith. As we moved through
Speaker 2: this Friday evening, it's now nine oh seven, nine oh eight, Yeah,
Speaker 2: something like that. I don't have what they call studio clocks,
Speaker 2: you know, back when I'm in the control room back
Speaker 2: in the day, you have these big studio clocks. They
Speaker 2: aren't like down to the milliseconds, so you always know
Speaker 2: exactly what it is. What time do you have, Rob,
Speaker 2: I got nine oh seven. What do you got nine
Speaker 2: o eight? Okay, me too, Yeah, we did just say ninaweight.
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right. Look I'm looking at the clock right now,
Speaker 2: nine oh eight in about six seconds. All right. Look,
Speaker 2: we have talked on this program for many years about
Speaker 2: the cost of energy here in New England. As a
Speaker 2: matter of fact, we talked just this past week with
Speaker 2: the former EPA director for Region one, Dave Cash, about
Speaker 2: that very topic. And there's some factors that drive the
Speaker 2: cost of energy here in the Northeast. We're kind of
Speaker 2: at the end of a lot of pipelines. We come
Speaker 2: from a part of the country where it turns cold
Speaker 2: sometime in November and it stays cold well into maybe
Speaker 2: April and early May, and so we still have a
Speaker 2: few more weeks of winter even though the calendar says
Speaker 2: it's spring. And so I discovered several years ago this
Speaker 2: wonderful website here in Massachusetts. It's called energy Switch Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: It's mass energy rates dot com. And believe it or not,
Speaker 2: some of our progressive politicians in Massachusetts want to take
Speaker 2: that website down. With me is Abbie Foster. She's the
Speaker 2: vice president of policy and advocacy for a group called
Speaker 2: the Retail Advancement Energy League called Real Abby, welcome back
Speaker 2: to Nightside. How are you.
Speaker 3: I'm good, Dan, Thanks for having us again.
Speaker 2: Yep. Absolutely, You're always welcome here. And what I'm trying
Speaker 2: to figure out is we've gone through a real I
Speaker 2: don't know, first of all, if you're famil with, we've
Speaker 2: had a bump and energy prices here in New England
Speaker 2: and there are some reasons for that. Obviously, it was
Speaker 2: a cold January and February, and it's been a relatively
Speaker 2: cold March, not as bad, but energy prices have gone up.
Speaker 2: The Department of Public Utilities in November gave the major
Speaker 2: energy companies here in Massachusetts a very generous rate increases.
Speaker 2: Are you familiar with the background to this story why
Speaker 2: people up here are really feeling it this winter?
Speaker 3: I am, And so we represent the suppliers where customers
Speaker 3: can shop for the one portion of their bill where
Speaker 3: they actually have options on the generation and supply. But
Speaker 3: a lot of those costs that were increasing this winter,
Speaker 3: or distribution costs, and that's not something customers can shock.
Speaker 2: For, right. No, I understand that. I understand this, you
Speaker 2: know very clearly. But what happened was and just to
Speaker 2: kind of set this up, we have three DPU commissioners
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts. All of them should resign, okay, because in March,
Speaker 2: when finally Governor Healey realized the scope of the problem
Speaker 2: that people's bills had just literally gone through the roof,
Speaker 2: she and her commissioners, I guess, asked the energy companies
Speaker 2: up here, the main suppliers, which would be ever source
Speaker 2: National Grid in UNITIL, to reduce energy prices the bills
Speaker 2: in March and April by five percent, with the understanding
Speaker 2: that they could recoup those five percent reductions during the
Speaker 2: summer months when energy levels are lower with interest. So
Speaker 2: it wasn't much of a break for the consumers. If
Speaker 2: you get my drift, and the Governor when she talked
Speaker 2: about it earlier this month, she was pretty proud of it. Okay,
Speaker 2: so let me just play a little bit of Governor
Speaker 2: Maura Healy just to make sure that we're in the
Speaker 2: that we're both on the same page. And then I
Speaker 2: want to talk specifically about what your group does and
Speaker 2: I want to make people understand how they can get
Speaker 2: their supply charges lower here in Massachusetts. So this is
Speaker 2: Governor Healy touting her plans and cut number thirty four,
Speaker 2: please rob cut thirty four.
Speaker 4: Look around the country, Okay. People have seen their heating
Speaker 4: mills go through the roof. Families are feeling it, businesses
Speaker 4: are feeling it all around the country.
Speaker 5: I'm proud to be here today to tell you that
Speaker 5: we're taking action as a state.
Speaker 6: Okay.
Speaker 5: Several weeks ago, I charged my team.
Speaker 4: I said, what can we do to drive down people's
Speaker 4: heating costs? Because people, especially the last month or two,
Speaker 4: were absolutely flabbergasted by what they got in the mail.
Speaker 4: And there are different reasons for that, but my goal
Speaker 4: was to make sure we were exploring every single thing
Speaker 4: that we could do as a state government, not as
Speaker 4: a utility, but as a state government to drive down
Speaker 4: people's bills.
Speaker 2: Now, that's a forty nine second SoundBite, Abby, and there's
Speaker 2: not a lot of specifics with that. But the governor
Speaker 2: followed up and this is a shorter sound bite, which
Speaker 2: again is kind of mystifying to me, but I want
Speaker 2: you to hear the governor's words. First. This is cut
Speaker 2: thirty three. Please Rob.
Speaker 4: We estimate that these steps, taken together, will save Massachusetts
Speaker 4: residents five point eight billion dollars over the next five years.
Speaker 4: Almost six billion dollars. We're going to save money back
Speaker 4: to you over the next five years.
Speaker 2: Still hasn't been explained to us how that's going to happen. However,
Speaker 2: what did happen, Abbey, And I just want you to
Speaker 2: understand that we've followed this story and it's been very frustrating.
Speaker 2: So the governor instructed her staff to go to the
Speaker 2: energy companies and give this five percent increase on the bill,
Speaker 2: five percent, one out of twenty dollars. The DPU ordered
Speaker 2: the companies reduce your rates by five percent on the
Speaker 2: next bills in March and April. National Grid ever source
Speaker 2: and I think Unitil as well said to the TPU
Speaker 2: five percent. We'll reduce them by ten percent. It was insane,
Speaker 2: but so so then the governor took credit for that.
Speaker 2: And this is the last SoundBite, and then we'll talk
Speaker 2: to you. I just want you to give you the
Speaker 2: sense here the politicians talk about gas lighting. Here we
Speaker 2: go cut thirty six rough.
Speaker 6: Here's what I wanted to tell you.
Speaker 4: A few weeks ago, I told the Department of Public
Speaker 4: Utilities to act to lower costs. After we pushed on that,
Speaker 4: we got a ten percent cut for gas bills.
Speaker 6: In March and in April. We are glad about that.
Speaker 4: Okay, so people are going to see ten percent off
Speaker 4: starting March and April.
Speaker 6: But we're not stopping there.
Speaker 4: I also wanted to announce today, as part of our
Speaker 4: energy affordability Agenda, a few things.
Speaker 6: First, we want to put cash back in people's pockets,
Speaker 6: some immediate relief.
Speaker 4: So on April, in your electric bill, you will now
Speaker 4: be getting a credit back of fifty dollars.
Speaker 5: I know that's not a ton of money compared to
Speaker 5: what people have been.
Speaker 4: Paying, but it is something. It is something, and every
Speaker 4: dollar counts so abby.
Speaker 2: The point is, they asked the DPU commissioners, who are
Speaker 2: appointed by the state, asked the major energy companies unitil At,
Speaker 2: Eversas and National Grid to give them a five percent cut,
Speaker 2: and the companies said, we'll do more than a five percent.
Speaker 2: We'll give you a ten percent cut. And the government
Speaker 2: has sort of taken credit for it. And by the way,
Speaker 2: they're going to recoup that cut that cut. Is this
Speaker 2: going on in other states around the Union? I feel
Speaker 2: like it's it's it's a strange political game that that
Speaker 2: were that we're being subjected to. Or am I am
Speaker 2: I just too cynical?
Speaker 3: You're not too cynical. I think I think it's really
Speaker 3: good for you to look at when someone says that
Speaker 3: there's a free meal, who's paying for it? And see
Speaker 3: where where it's coming from.
Speaker 2: I'm famil I am familiar with the acronym ton staffel.
Speaker 2: You're familiar with that acronym, are you not? Don Staffel?
Speaker 3: Tell me about it.
Speaker 2: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. That's
Speaker 2: time STI I think they go, oh, go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 3: I think it's I think it's good for people to
Speaker 3: want to understand that we haven't seen the legislation truly
Speaker 3: that's coming from the Affordability initiative that the governor has announced,
Speaker 3: but from what has been introduced to discuss so far,
Speaker 3: there's really no actual savings that we've seen that can
Speaker 3: come to customers that aren't coming from other customers or
Speaker 3: other programs that are customer funded and so or have
Speaker 3: to be reimbursed later, and so it's not truly a discount.
Speaker 3: One of the benefits of having options to shop is
Speaker 3: when the rates are changing and you have enrolled in
Speaker 3: a fixed rate contract. If the market is volatile, our
Speaker 3: prices are going up. The person who loses their shirt
Speaker 3: is a supplier because they've offered you a fixed rate.
Speaker 3: And so the only way to really save in a
Speaker 3: market like this when you have competition is to use
Speaker 3: competition to your benefit. Look at your options, choose your
Speaker 3: lowest fixed rate offer, and enroll in that. And unfortunately,
Speaker 3: we've tried to talk about education and the need for
Speaker 3: that in Massachusetts, but there hasn't been much done on
Speaker 3: the state's part to inform customers of their options and
Speaker 3: how to leverage competition in the market to work for
Speaker 3: them to save money.
Speaker 2: Well, here's the deal. In Massachusetts. The governor and the
Speaker 2: Attorney General want to take down the energy switch, the
Speaker 2: mass Energy rate site. I'm not sure if you're aware
Speaker 2: of that or not, but the site here in Massachusetts,
Speaker 2: and if anyone out there is sitting in front of
Speaker 2: their computer, all they have to do if they want
Speaker 2: to understand what I'm talking about is go to mass
Speaker 2: energy rates dot Com. And this was a reform that
Speaker 2: was put in about thirty years ago here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: And it's pretty simple. I'm on the site right now.
Speaker 2: All you have to do mass Energy rates dot Com.
Speaker 2: You select you utility, whether it's National Grid, ever Source
Speaker 2: or UNITIL. In my case it's ever Source, is who
Speaker 2: I get my electricity from, and then it says select
Speaker 2: your account type and there's three choices residential, commercial, large commercial,
Speaker 2: obviously we're talking residential. And at that point they ask
Speaker 2: you to view the rates and you now have a
Speaker 2: plethora of rates, you know, some nine months, some six months,
Speaker 2: some twenty four months, some twelve months, all sorts of
Speaker 2: different rates, and they also tell you what the current
Speaker 2: ever source residential rate is. So the ever source rate
Speaker 2: has actually has actually come down a little bit, which
Speaker 2: I'm very happy to see, but there that has also
Speaker 2: driven down the rates of some I'm with Constellation Energy
Speaker 2: and it's down to eleven point nineteen cents. So this
Speaker 2: mass energy rates website is forcing the rates down, and
Speaker 2: yet our governor and our Attorney general wants to take
Speaker 2: this energy rates site down. Are you aware of that?
Speaker 3: I am, And it's unfortunately it's not just even taking
Speaker 3: the site down, it's actually closing the market so that
Speaker 3: suppliers these offers that you're looking at, Constellation for example,
Speaker 3: that you're enrolled with, they would no longer be able
Speaker 3: to sell electricity to customers and operate in the market,
Speaker 3: and so customers would only have the utility to buy
Speaker 3: their supply from, or if they have municipal aggregation in
Speaker 3: their town, they would only have that as the option,
Speaker 3: and that.
Speaker 7: Would be it.
Speaker 2: Well, we're going to try to explain that and make
Speaker 2: people understand that the that this this this mass energy
Speaker 2: rates forcing is actually forcing ever source in national grid
Speaker 2: to become more competitive, which is which is a good thing.
Speaker 2: My guest is Abby Foster. Abby is a vice president
Speaker 2: of Policy and Advocacy for the Retail Advancement Energy League.
Speaker 2: If you have any question about energy, feel free to
Speaker 2: join our conversation six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
Speaker 2: thirty six, one, seven, nine three one, ten thirty. Now again,
Speaker 2: you may have parents who are older than you who
Speaker 2: might not be as comfortable with computers as you are,
Speaker 2: So this is something you want to make sure your
Speaker 2: parents are aware of as well or your grandparents, and
Speaker 2: everybody should be aware of it. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a break. I'm going to be
Speaker 2: back with Abby Foster, vice president of Policy and Advocacy
Speaker 2: for the Retail Advancement Energy League, talking about mass energy
Speaker 2: rates dot com and why we need to have that
Speaker 2: in my opinion, and keep it and not allow the
Speaker 2: politicians to take away something that actually helps us save money.
Speaker 2: Back on Nightside right after.
Speaker 1: This, you're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ
Speaker 1: Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: We're talking about energy rates in Massachusetts gas electric. All
Speaker 2: of us rely on that here in a cool weather
Speaker 2: part of the country. Our political leaders here have often
Speaker 2: fought against extensions of natural gas pipelines into New England.
Speaker 2: Why have our leaders not been welcoming to the idea
Speaker 2: of more natural gas pipelines? Abby?
Speaker 3: In your opinion, oh man, Well, in New England, I
Speaker 3: think a lot of the legislators the renewable energy standards
Speaker 3: have always been a priority. Unfortunately, there's not a lot
Speaker 3: of generation in state in the New England states, and
Speaker 3: there's small states. There's not a lot of geographical area
Speaker 3: for what's necessary to hit the renewable portfolio standard goals
Speaker 3: for wind and full or things like that. And right
Speaker 3: now you just don't have enough of the energy to
Speaker 3: balance out intermittent resources that don't aren't available all the
Speaker 3: time when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing,
Speaker 3: and so you still need that kind of backup energy.
Speaker 3: And so you know, those are political decisions and people
Speaker 3: have voted for those political officers to be in office,
Speaker 3: and that's, you know, the will of the people.
Speaker 2: I may ask you some questions that you don't know
Speaker 2: the answer to it, and I'm not looking for specific answers,
Speaker 2: but are the rates the energy rates here in New
Speaker 2: England generally obviously different parts of the country During the winter,
Speaker 2: obviously probably the energy rates in places like Arizona are
Speaker 2: not exorbitant because they don't have the cold weather in
Speaker 2: most parts of Arizona that we have in the summertime,
Speaker 2: they may have rates higher because they have to rely
Speaker 2: on air conditioning, but as a whole how would you
Speaker 2: say that the cost of energy of heating your home
Speaker 2: or providing electricity in your home in New England compares
Speaker 2: to other parts of the country.
Speaker 3: Massachusetts have some of the highest electric rates in the country.
Speaker 3: Some of that is related to, as I noted, the
Speaker 3: renewable portfolio standards, so also one of the highest in
Speaker 3: the country in Massachusetts. Forever amount of every bit of
Speaker 3: electricity that you get, whether it's supplied by the utility
Speaker 3: or the supplier, sixty three percent of that has to
Speaker 3: come from certain renewable energy sources located within New England.
Speaker 7: And then we.
Speaker 3: Actually just did this past week an education event at
Speaker 3: the Capitol at the State House with Bob Rio who
Speaker 3: developed a platform called What's in My Electric Bill that
Speaker 3: looks at what are the different parts of your electric
Speaker 3: bill and what is on your electric bill and why
Speaker 3: you're being charged at whether it was caused by legislation
Speaker 3: being passed, or whether it's distribution costs from the utility
Speaker 3: for the polls and wires or for the supply from
Speaker 3: your supplier. And almost a third of your electric bill
Speaker 3: comes from policy decisions, So the legislature passing something to
Speaker 3: require the funding for electric vehicle programs, energy efficiency extra
Speaker 3: programs that are required to be added to your bill.
Speaker 3: But again, you know you've you've elected those elected officials.
Speaker 3: They're acting on your behalf, and so if you have
Speaker 3: any concerns about that, you should reach out to them and.
Speaker 7: Let them know.
Speaker 2: Right. But the elected officials in Massachusetts are almost uniformally unresponsive.
Speaker 2: We have a state Senate which is eighty percent democratic.
Speaker 2: We have a state House, which is a House of Representatives,
Speaker 2: which is about eighty percent democratic. The Republicans are they're
Speaker 2: not even competitive minorities. I mean to be a competitive
Speaker 2: minority every once in a while. I mean in the
Speaker 2: US Senate, for example, I think most people know it's
Speaker 2: fifty three forty seven, and that's on some issues that
Speaker 2: can be really competitive. And the Republicans, even though they're
Speaker 2: in the majority, have to make some form of compromise
Speaker 2: or concessions. Up here, No compromise, no concessions, And we
Speaker 2: tend to just return people to office time election after
Speaker 2: election after election. Why do the political leaders, and I'm
Speaker 2: talking now about the governor and the attorney general want
Speaker 2: to take down this site, the mass energy rates site.
Speaker 2: I assume you're familiar with that, and I want to
Speaker 2: take a break for news, but i'd like to get
Speaker 2: your response on that on the other side, and also
Speaker 2: get some phone calls from my listeners as to what
Speaker 2: they specifically need to do to maybe get these energy
Speaker 2: bills down a little bit. I hope you'll be able
Speaker 2: to respond to some of those questions. So if you
Speaker 2: can stay with us to a newscast Abby at the
Speaker 2: bottom of the ar, we'll be right back in about
Speaker 2: four minutes. Okay, great, Okay, Back with Abbie Foster. She's
Speaker 2: vice president of the Retail Advancement Energy League, which is
Speaker 2: working very hard to keep your energy prices down. The
Speaker 2: cost that you pay every month for whatever energy you have. Now,
Speaker 2: if you're living in a home that doesn't have electricity
Speaker 2: and you're lighting by candles, good luck. If you're living
Speaker 2: in a house that is you're not using heat and
Speaker 2: you're only using you know, burning wood in a fireplace,
Speaker 2: there aren't many of you who are doing that. Most
Speaker 2: of us are paying electric and natural gas bills or
Speaker 2: some form bill every month. And this is an important
Speaker 2: conversation and I would love to have you participate. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
Speaker 2: thirty six one seven nine three, one, ten thirty. Coming
Speaker 2: right back right after this on Night Side.
Speaker 1: With Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back. My guess is Abbie Foster. She
Speaker 2: is the vice president of an organization called the Retail
Speaker 2: Advancement Energy League. We're talking about energy rates here in
Speaker 2: Massachusetts and in New England for that matter, and maybe
Speaker 2: even in New York and Pennsylvania and New Jersey anywhere
Speaker 2: in the coldest part of the region. Are you familiar, Abby,
Speaker 2: with the stated intention of the political leaders here in
Speaker 2: Massachusetts to take down the mass energy rates dot com website.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So the legislation has been introduced for a few
Speaker 3: years now in both the House and Senate that would
Speaker 3: completely close the residential market and as a result of
Speaker 3: of course, it would take down the energy switch at
Speaker 3: a dot gov website and any others that let customers
Speaker 3: shop easily.
Speaker 2: So my question is, I know most of these political leaders.
Speaker 2: I've been doing this for a long time in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: I know Governor Healy very well. She's a very decent person.
Speaker 2: I don't think she's an evil person. But I think
Speaker 2: that these political leaders surround themselves with political constituencies that
Speaker 2: aren't really functioning in the interest either of the political
Speaker 2: leaders or the residents of the Koma. Why would they
Speaker 2: anyone even think of taking down as something as successful
Speaker 2: as this, which has allowed people over the last thirty
Speaker 2: years to actually have an impact on how much they're
Speaker 2: paying for energy. Is what motivation can you divine out
Speaker 2: of that?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 3: I think it's particularly baffling in this time time of
Speaker 3: energy prices in Massachusetts, so for example, in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 3: National Grid went from twelve cents to thirty four cents.
Speaker 3: I mean, if any time was a good time to
Speaker 3: go tell customers to shop, that would have been the time.
Speaker 3: There was really no excuse to be trying to close
Speaker 3: down the market at that time, and then now still
Speaker 3: customers and every single utility service territory can save money.
Speaker 3: But all I know is what they've said, both in
Speaker 3: media and in testimony. They've said that the volume of
Speaker 3: complaints is just too much, there's too many customers that
Speaker 3: are not having a good experience, and that customers don't
Speaker 3: have the capacity to shop, it's too complicated of a process.
Speaker 3: But we actually looked at the data on the Attorney
Speaker 3: General's website on complaints filed against retail energy suppliers, and
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty three there were ninety total out of
Speaker 3: four hundred and eight thousand customers, so it was less
Speaker 3: than one percent. By comparison, the utility industry had three
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty, cable providers had two hundred, solar three
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty. So it doesn't make sense that this
Speaker 3: is the one industry that's being called for to close
Speaker 3: down based on a number of complaints. And you yourself
Speaker 3: have a first hand experience knowing that the process is
Speaker 3: very simple if you just pay attention. And so the
Speaker 3: other claim about customers not having the capacity or wherewithal
Speaker 3: to be able to figure this out and benefit from it,
Speaker 3: I also am a shopper, is I just I find
Speaker 3: it unfair and not true.
Speaker 2: It almost seems to me that if if we were
Speaker 2: to compare it, and if this comparison is unfair, please
Speaker 2: tell me, But it almost seems to me that let's
Speaker 2: assume we had a very fancy, high priced grocery chain
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts, and I'm going to say something like Wegmans,
Speaker 2: which is really a high quality chain and a little
Speaker 2: bit more expensive to shop. And in Massachusetts we also
Speaker 2: have another great grocery chain which I tend to shop
Speaker 2: at whenever I have the opportunity called market Basket, where
Speaker 2: you can go and find normal, everyday items at substantially
Speaker 2: less prices, and market Basket happens to be the most
Speaker 2: popular grocery chain in Massachusetts. When anyone, you know, surveys
Speaker 2: the public and if all of a sudden there was
Speaker 2: some sort of grocery chain commission here in Massachusetts and
Speaker 2: they said, well, not everyone is able to go to
Speaker 2: market Basket, or not everyone lives within you know, a
Speaker 2: mile of market Basket. Therefore, we're going to stop people
Speaker 2: from shopping at market Basket where they can save money,
Speaker 2: and force them to only go to the grocery store,
Speaker 2: which is going to cost them a little bit more money.
Speaker 2: People would be up in arms over that. And what
Speaker 2: will happen here in Massachusetts is this legislation is going
Speaker 2: to sit there until sometime probably in August when everybody's
Speaker 2: not paying attention, and they'll pass it and the governor
Speaker 2: will sign it into law. And next next fall, when
Speaker 2: people are looking for this your mass energy rates dot
Speaker 2: com and that is the side, it'll be gone. And
Speaker 2: it's so frustrating for me as somebody who has looked
Speaker 2: at this. I don't have the expertise, the national expertise
Speaker 2: that you have, but this is a no brainer. It's
Speaker 2: not a close call. I just don't know how the
Speaker 2: politicians are going to take this away, but I'm convinced
Speaker 2: their intent is to take it away, and that they
Speaker 2: will take it away. Tell me, please tell me I'm wrong.
Speaker 3: I wish I could, but you know what, You're not
Speaker 3: wrong about being up in arms. We've heard from thousands
Speaker 3: and thousands of customers across the state. We know of
Speaker 3: over five thousand customers who have reached out to their legislators.
Speaker 3: Every single legislator in Massachusetts has heard from their constituents saying,
Speaker 3: do not take this away. I like the ability to shop.
Speaker 3: But your analogy is spot on about the grocery shopping.
Speaker 3: Everyone has different preferences, and actually Massachusetts customers that shop,
Speaker 3: there's a higher percentage in this state than typically in
Speaker 3: other states of those that choose premium and value added products,
Speaker 3: so one hundred percent renewable or an electric vehicle charging plan.
Speaker 3: And those customers want that, They're willing to pay more.
Speaker 3: They know the value of it, and they should be
Speaker 3: allowed to do that, But every year the Attorney General
Speaker 3: comes out with a report that says, these customers are
Speaker 3: all getting swindled, they're overpaying for their electricity. But they're
Speaker 3: comparing all of those value add customers in green premium
Speaker 3: programs and value add plans against the utility six month contract,
Speaker 3: and so that data is represented in a certain way
Speaker 3: to tell a certain story, and it's just not the
Speaker 3: actual story of what's happening in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: So ways I might have been confused by that. You're
Speaker 2: saying that the Attorney General has addressed the people who
Speaker 2: are paying more for energy because they want to be
Speaker 2: clean energy. So, for example, I get this in the
Speaker 2: mail every month, Please switch to whatever the name of
Speaker 2: the energy company is, and it'll it never tells you
Speaker 2: what the price is, but it tells you that it
Speaker 2: will be clean energy. It'll be wind and solar, and
Speaker 2: you'll feel a lot better knowing that your energy is
Speaker 2: clean and they don't tell you it's going to be
Speaker 2: more expensive. Now, there are some people who realize that
Speaker 2: and say, look, I'm making a statement and I am
Speaker 2: prepared to pay more for that cleaner quote unquote cleaner
Speaker 2: energy solar, wind, and maybe a little bit of hydro.
Speaker 2: But that's a choice that person wants to make. Are
Speaker 2: you telling me that the Attorney General is looking to
Speaker 2: take away those choices? I don't think so.
Speaker 8: Yes, she is.
Speaker 3: It's closing the entire market. So anyone enrolled in one
Speaker 3: hundred percent renewable electric vehicle plans, it's taking everything away.
Speaker 3: So anything that is offered by a retail energy supplier
Speaker 3: will no longer be available in the market. You will
Speaker 3: only have your utility offer, and if you have municipal aggregation,
Speaker 3: your aggregation offer as well.
Speaker 2: So who does that benefit? Because it would seem to
Speaker 2: me that if any person who has said they want
Speaker 2: just you know, quote unquote clean energy, solar energy, when
Speaker 2: you know, if they say, I want a company that
Speaker 2: gets all their energy from solar and from wind, I
Speaker 2: wanted to be one hundred percent clean energy, that that
Speaker 2: person has a point of view, and they're willing to
Speaker 2: put their money where their mouth is, and they want
Speaker 2: to pay a little bit extra or maybe a lot extra,
Speaker 2: but they feel better about doing that. I don't understand
Speaker 2: why that choice would be taken away from a person either, Dan.
Speaker 3: You asked the right question, So who would benefit? So
Speaker 3: you always need to look at where the money, who benefits,
Speaker 3: and where the money goes, and not every one of
Speaker 3: the utilities has a green option for customers. National Grid
Speaker 3: does have green power options that customers can choose from.
Speaker 3: But it's interesting because there's only a few different types
Speaker 3: of companies that buy the renewable energy certificates to sell
Speaker 3: for the utility to make available to customers and to
Speaker 3: give customers green options. And one of those entities is
Speaker 3: actually the Green Energy Consumers Alliance and their for profit
Speaker 3: arm in Massachusetts, and that is one of the loudest
Speaker 3: advocates on market closure, alongside Thetorney General in the City
Speaker 3: of Boston and Governor Healey when she was advocating loudly
Speaker 3: on this as well.
Speaker 2: So why would Green Energy Consortium they want people to
Speaker 2: have to focus. Why would they join forces with the
Speaker 2: progressive political leaders to take away options from people across Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: That's against what they claimed therefore right.
Speaker 3: Right, But they would like to be the only option
Speaker 3: for green energy options. And I can't speak on their behalf,
Speaker 3: but that is their business on their for profit side,
Speaker 3: and that's who supplies the renewable energy certificates for National
Speaker 3: Grid and for municipal aggregation programs for some REA.
Speaker 2: Okay, so they then they then as a green energy option,
Speaker 2: would in effect have a monopoly if all the other
Speaker 2: green energy options on themass rates dot Com website were
Speaker 2: taken away.
Speaker 3: That's right, it would certainly grow their share of the pie.
Speaker 2: Okay, I got to take a break. I'm hoping that
Speaker 2: we can get a few phone calls in here to
Speaker 2: support what you're doing and drive people to your website
Speaker 2: and drive people to mass Energy Rates dot Com. Ladies
Speaker 2: and gentlemen, this is simple. This is very very simple.
Speaker 2: There's not it doesn't take a lot of time. All
Speaker 2: you have to do is go to the mass energy
Speaker 2: it's called just basically the mass Energy rates Companny simpler
Speaker 2: dot com. There's a couple of a couple of steps
Speaker 2: you have to take, which is self explanatory. I mean
Speaker 2: a four year old could do this. As a matter
Speaker 2: of fact, four year olds could probably do this really
Speaker 2: easily because they're much better on computers than a lot
Speaker 2: of other people. And you sign up for whatever plan
Speaker 2: you think is the best. They're basically they're all fixed plans,
Speaker 2: which is important. You lock it in for a month,
Speaker 2: for nine months, or six months, twelve months or twenty
Speaker 2: four and you mark on your calendar. Okay, I got
Speaker 2: a double check the my energy nine months or six
Speaker 2: months or twenty four months ahead of time. And as
Speaker 2: a matter of fact, I believe that these energy companies
Speaker 2: are now obligated to send you a letter thirty days before.
Speaker 2: And if I'm wrong here, Abby, please tell me they're
Speaker 2: obligated to send me a letter or you a letter
Speaker 2: thirty days and saying your rate with us is about
Speaker 2: to expire thirty days from now, right or wrong on that?
Speaker 3: That's correct?
Speaker 2: Okay, So you not only should have a little note
Speaker 2: on your calendar. You don't have to be a brain
Speaker 2: surgeon or a rocket scientist to do that. And somehow
Speaker 2: our political leaders want to take choice away and they
Speaker 2: want to basically handcuff people so they have to pay
Speaker 2: whatever rate is going to be imposed upon them. So
Speaker 2: much for progressive politics. Well, take a break. We'll be
Speaker 2: right back with my guest, Abby Foster. We are switching
Speaker 2: topics at ten o'clock. So if you'd like to get
Speaker 2: in and just add your voice to this and tell
Speaker 2: your friends about this. This is actually something of reform
Speaker 2: that is good. It will save you some money. It's insane.
Speaker 2: Massachusetts is now I think insane if they take this
Speaker 2: particular option away from its its citizenry. We'll be back
Speaker 2: on Night Side. I got a couple of lines at
Speaker 2: six one seven, nine three one ten thirty and one
Speaker 2: at six one seven, two five four ten thirty.
Speaker 1: If you're on Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm Boston's
Speaker 1: News Radio.
Speaker 2: My guest is Abby Foster. She's a vice president with
Speaker 2: a group called the Retail Advancement Energy League. And we're
Speaker 2: talking about choice. We're talking about options, uh and choice
Speaker 2: and options which the politicians in Massachusetts are about to
Speaker 2: take away, or they're trying to take away, and it
Speaker 2: is I think it's obscene. Let me go to CG
Speaker 2: and Cambridge first. CG, let me get you on here. Welcome,
Speaker 2: welcome back, How are you very good?
Speaker 8: Thank you. I'll give be a couple of cock questions ahead,
Speaker 8: please as meet your abbey. I'd like to know if
Speaker 8: they're getting more rates higher, are they getting more tax money?
Speaker 2: I don't think tax money has much to do with this,
Speaker 2: to be honest with you, but go ahead, go ahead, Abby,
Speaker 2: I think I talked to O of you. Go ahead.
Speaker 3: No, we're both saying the same thing. There's there's not
Speaker 3: a lot of overlap on the tax money, but there
Speaker 3: is when there's a lot of the programs or additional
Speaker 3: fees that are collected through the utility. It allows them
Speaker 3: to what's called rate basic morse, they're allowed to increase
Speaker 3: rates to collect those costs from you. But there's not
Speaker 3: a lot on the on the taxes that get that
Speaker 3: get pulled from this, but.
Speaker 8: It pushes their agenda all electrics are all renewable.
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I really don't think so. I'll
Speaker 2: see what Abby says that that cg's question, is their
Speaker 2: agenda all renewable? I don't think so. I don't think so.
Speaker 2: That we'll see what Abbey says. Go ahead, Abbey.
Speaker 3: Massachusetts does have one of the highest renewable portfolio standards
Speaker 3: in the country. So I noted before sixty three percent
Speaker 3: of the electricity that the utility cells or the supplier
Speaker 3: cells has to be from very specific renewable energy resources
Speaker 3: within the state or region. And so that does increase costs.
Speaker 3: And there has been a big push on electrification in
Speaker 3: Massachusetts and on energy efficiency, and for those programs, there
Speaker 3: is a line item in your electric bill that you
Speaker 3: pay for to fund those programs. But all of that
Speaker 3: is decided by the legislature, not by the utility. So
Speaker 3: they're just collecting on the required programs that the legislature
Speaker 3: has decided.
Speaker 2: The other thing, CG. Is this is almost the analogy
Speaker 2: that I use, and I don't think it's wrong. If
Speaker 2: they said to you, okay, c G, where do you shop?
Speaker 2: And if you said to them, look, I like to
Speaker 2: go to market Basket. If they said to you, well, CG,
Speaker 2: you live in Cambridge and we want you to go
Speaker 2: to Trader Joe's, and uh, if you said, well, gee,
Speaker 2: there's products I can't get at Trader Joe's that I
Speaker 2: need to get at market Basket, well you got you
Speaker 2: can't go to market Basket, but you've got to go
Speaker 2: to Trader Joe's or you know, some of the more
Speaker 2: specialty stores. How would most people react to that?
Speaker 8: Do you think, Well, against the politicians are working against
Speaker 8: the constituents of this state. They're looking at for the
Speaker 8: rome boiled good whatever they want.
Speaker 2: I happen to agree with you. And again I'm not
Speaker 2: trying to drag Abby into this part of the conversation,
Speaker 2: but uh, we we are a state up here, which
Speaker 2: is a pro choice state. Okay, we we believe that
Speaker 2: people should be able to live their lives, uh, in
Speaker 2: terms of their their choices, in terms of partners and
Speaker 2: and spouses and on all all sorts of issues. We're
Speaker 2: pro choice. But this is one pro choice item that
Speaker 2: they want to take away from us, and they want
Speaker 2: to say to us, they're going to diminish the options
Speaker 2: that everyone has for electric supply charges. They want to
Speaker 2: take that away, which was given to us by the state. Ironically,
Speaker 2: and this is run by the state, which was intended
Speaker 2: to keep the cost down. It is mystifying to me.
Speaker 2: It is mystifying. CJ. Thank you so much. I appreciate
Speaker 2: your call. Very good. Thank you, good good questions call
Speaker 2: more often. Will let me go next to Jim, Jim,
Speaker 2: I'm going to sneak in here for a couple of
Speaker 2: minutes at the end of the hour. Go right ahead.
Speaker 2: You're own with Abby Foster with the Retail Advancement Energy League.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, Jim.
Speaker 9: Well, without knowing all the details, just generally speaking, it
Speaker 9: sounds to me like as a function of the fact
Speaker 9: that the government requires the mono, the regulated monopolies to
Speaker 9: subject to regulation by a public utilities board, then they
Speaker 9: aside from that regulation, they would have an obligation to
Speaker 9: stay out of.
Speaker 7: Out of the game, I mean right, I mean they're
Speaker 7: kind of like double dipping. That's what it sounds like
Speaker 7: to me.
Speaker 2: Abbe you want to unravel that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So in a state that allows competition, where they
Speaker 3: broke up the utility monopoly. In most of the states
Speaker 3: except for Texas, the utility is still your default supplier.
Speaker 3: So if you don't shop, if you don't make an
Speaker 3: option proactively, you can still get your supply from your utility.
Speaker 3: But they're that's not really a revenue generator for them.
Speaker 3: They're purchasing from the market and making it available to customers.
Speaker 3: But that's really why customers should be using the benefit
Speaker 3: of their choice and going out there and looking for
Speaker 3: the best option possible, because oftentimes the utility is not
Speaker 3: the best option possible, and certainly not if you're looking
Speaker 3: for cost savings. There are offers in every single utility
Speaker 3: service territory below the utility rate six rate offers that
Speaker 3: you could enroll in and save money.
Speaker 7: Okay, well, my mistake. I didn't know that Massachusetts has
Speaker 7: went regulated. I know here in Missouri, uh.
Speaker 9: Whatever, whatever utility is providing electricity in your area, that's
Speaker 9: who you buy it from, or else you don't get in.
Speaker 2: Well you have you had that here you have. I
Speaker 2: live in an area for my electricity where in the community.
Speaker 2: If I only get it from ever source, I don't
Speaker 2: have a choice. I can't go to another big supplier
Speaker 2: ever source. However I can go on the supply issue.
Speaker 2: I can't have a choice on distribution, But on the
Speaker 2: supply issue, I can go to right now, clear View
Speaker 2: Direct Energy, others, others, Constellation, and they want to take
Speaker 2: that option away. And once competition is taken away, what
Speaker 2: do you think the big energy companies are going to do?
Speaker 7: And I'm not trying to I'm not trying to start
Speaker 7: an argument, just trying to.
Speaker 2: Think you're not starting and all. I think we're singing
Speaker 2: from the same song page. But unfortunately we're now flat
Speaker 2: out of time. Thanks Jim, as always, I appreciate it,
Speaker 2: Thank you much, Abby, thank you. How can folks get
Speaker 2: more information? And again, I'm frankly disappointed that more people
Speaker 2: aren't didn't call and support what we're trying to do,
Speaker 2: because all we're trying to do is save people some money.
Speaker 2: Other energy costs. Ye, but I think the politicians read
Speaker 2: something like that and say people don't care. So if
Speaker 2: that's what happens in Massachusetts, let the people deal with it.
Speaker 2: How can folks get in touch with your group and
Speaker 2: get more information?
Speaker 3: So real quick, I just have good news for that
Speaker 3: last caller. There's actually legislation introduced in Missouri, but in
Speaker 3: both the House and Senate, to break up the utility
Speaker 3: monopoly and bring choice to that state. So you can
Speaker 3: get ahold of us on our website and ask questions
Speaker 3: about that Missouri caller. But if you want more information
Speaker 3: about Massachusetts and to get involved, to tell your legislator
Speaker 3: to protect your energy choice, go to support Energy Choice
Speaker 3: dot com slash Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: Support energy Choice dot com forward slash Massachusetts. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2: I really do appreciate it, Abby, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: You're great spokesman, and I hope we can wake people
Speaker 2: up here as simple as that. Thanks so much. Talking
Speaker 2: about waking people up, we're gonna talk about getting asleep
Speaker 2: on the other side of the hour, on the other
Speaker 2: side of the ten o'clock news. Stay with us here
Speaker 2: on nightside, wake up people