Bills H3087 and S1527: Fact Sheet
Click here to print a fact sheet about bills H3087 and S1527
Full text of bill H3087 is here, of bill S1527 is here
Endorsers of Bills H3087 & S1527
or their predecessors
Municipalities
Acton
Amesbury
Amherst
Arlington
Ashby
Ashland
Attleboro
Ayer
Barnstable
Bedford
Bellingham
Bourne
Bridgewater
Brockton
Brookline
Burlington
Cambridge
Canton
Carlisle
Carver
Charlton
Dartmouth
Dover
Dudley
Duxbury
Eastham
Easthampton
Easton
Edgartown
Essex
Fairhaven
Falmouth
Fitchburg
Foxborough
Framingham
Franklin
Freetown
Hamilton
Hanover
Harwich
Hatfield
Hinsdale
Holbrook
Lancaster
Lenox
Leominster
Lexington
Lincoln
Longmeadow
Lowell
Ludlow
Lunenburg
Marion
Marlborough
Maynard
Medway
Melrose
Milford
Milton
Natick
New Bedford
Newburyport
Newton
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Norfolk
Northampton
Northbridge
Orleans
Oxford
Plymouth
Provincetown
Quincy
Revere
Rockland
Salem
Salisbury
Scituate
Sharon
Sherborn
Somerville
Southwick
Spencer
Stoneham
Sudbury
Swampscott
Tisbury
Topsfield
Townsend
Uxbridge
Walpole
Waltham
Wareham
Watertown
Wayland
Wenham
West Springfield
West Tisbury
Westborough
Westford
Weston
Westport
Weymouth
Williamstown
Winchester
Woburn
Worcester
Wrentham
Yarmouth
Organizations
Cape Light Compact
Environment
Massachusetts
Franklin Regional Council of Governments
Mass Climate Action Network
Mass Energy Consumers Alliance
Massachusetts Municipal Association
MASSPIRG
The Energy Consortium
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H3087 and S1527 - Establishment of municipal lighting authorities ("Munis")
- Munis save residential consumers an average of 24% on their electric bills
- Munis offer better electric service with improved reliability
- Munis respond to local priorities (e.g. clean energy, place wires underground)
The 41 Munis that already exist in Massachusetts (including Concord, Shrewsbury,
Wellesley, Braintree, Norwood, Peabody, Ipswich or Taunton) serve 15% of our
population. Compared with investor-owned utilities ("IOUs"), Munis generally
offer better reliability (fewer outages) and favorable rates (lower than NStar by
24% for residential customers and by 10% for businesses in
1992-2003 in the greater Boston area).
In 2008 for 500 kWh, Munis
charged $69 per month, National Grid charged $87, NStar charged $100 and Unitil charged $105 (respectively
25%, 44% and 52% more than Munis). About 2,000 Munis operate nationwide, including in Los Angeles, Seattle, Cleveland, Austin, Sacramento and Orlando.
MGL Chapter 164 outlines the process a city or town must follow to acquire the
distribution infrastructure from the incumbent IOU and operate it as a Muni. But
no new Muni has been formed in Massachusetts since 1926 because Chapter
164, written a century ago, makes the process impractical.
Bills H3087 and S1527 clarify Chapter 164 by explicitly stating that once the fair value of the IOU's infrastructure has been
established, the sale must occur. The bills also adjust
certain time lines, create a review process for the economics of new Munis and
limit at 3 per year the number of new Munis that can be formed.
By making the formation of new Munis practically feasible, bills H3087 and S1527 introduce a
form of competition, which will lead IOUs to reduce rates and improve
service even if very few new Munis are formed. In the case of
Lexington, a Muni would address local priorities while charging less than NStar,
saving residents, businesses and the Town $6-8 million annually.
Bills H3087 and S1527, filed by Representative Jay Kaufman and by Senators Robert O'Leary and Marc Pacheco are co-sponsored by 47 legislators.
115 cities, towns and organizations (including MMA, Environment Massachusetts, MASSPIRG, Mass
Energy Consumers Alliance, Mass Climate Action Network, Cape
Light Compact) endorse Bills H3087 & S1527 or their predecessors (H3319 in 2007-08, H3294 in 2005-06, H1468 in 2003-04). The Boston Globe called this legislation "A promising
bill […that] would restore some power to the consumer".
Prepared by the Lexington Electric Utility Committee (3/25/09)
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