[note: please don’t forget to sign Salem SAFE’s petition to stop gas leaks in Massachusetts! We only need 16 more signatures!]
Conference committee members are “trading proposals back and forth.”
New standards now being promoted would make Massachusetts lead the country in affordable solar energy, particularly for low-income cities and towns. However, the new standards are in jeopardy because of the current state of the discussions about the two competing bills, which are both presently in conference committee.
On the WWLP-22News website, by State House News Service contributor Katie Lannan:
BOSTON, Mass. (STATE HOUSE) – A policy guide launched Monday holds up Massachusetts as a leader in making solar energy accessible to low-income communities, but solar supporters said Monday that status could be at risk under legislation lawmakers are negotiating.
Competing House and Senate solar bills (H 3854 and S 2058) were referred on Nov. 18 to a conference committee. Lawmakers were charged with working out differences including the amount of power solar producers can sell back to the energy grid at retail rates through what is known as net metering.
“If the bill that comes out of committee is anywhere in between the what Senate version was and what the House version was, you are all but assured that low-income solar is in deep trouble in Massachusetts,” Emily Rochon, director of energy and environmental policy at Boston Community Capital, said during a conference call with reporters and solar advocates Monday.
Salem Alliance for the Environment 