Municipal Electricity Bill Moves to House Ways and Means

After years of being stalled in the legislature's Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, the Municipal Electricity Bill has finally been voted out of committee. It now requires action by House Ways & Means before it can move to the Full House and Senate for consideration before the legislative session ends in a few weeks.

The legislation, which has been recdrafted as H4792, would simply the process by which a city or town can create a municipal electric utility ("muni") similar to those in Concord, Wellesley, Braintree and more than 40 Boston-area cities and towns. Under current law, it is techinically possible to create a muni, but the process is so complicated and convoluted that it is not practical. Also, under existing law at the conclusion of the complex process, the local monopoly electric utility (in our case, NSTAR) can effectively veto the transfer of assets, even after a price for those assets has been set through the law's adjudicative process.

Having a muni in Newton would save ratepayers (including residents, businesses and the City of Newton government) millions of dollars every year. It would also improve customer service, reduce down time, and would simplify the process of making environmental improvements (undergrounding utilities, local solar power generation, etc.).

Please call or email the chairman of the committee, Represenative Charles Murphy, at 617-722-2990 or Rep.CharlesMurphy@hwm.state.ma.us and urge him to support speedy passage of the legislation. For more information on the bill, please visit the Massachusetts Alliance for Municipal Electric Choice web site.