HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2546        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2900

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Paul W. Mark

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to municipal energy use disclosure and reporting.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2546        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2900

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2910 OF 2013-2014.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth General Court
(2015-2016)

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An Act relative to municipal energy use disclosure and reporting.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 164 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 94H the following section:-

Section 94I. Gas and electric companies shall file annually with the department of public utilities schedules, in such form as the department shall from time to time prescribe, showing total energy use and number of residential customers in each municipality; average energy use per residential customer of each municipality; total energy use and number of commercial customers in each municipality; and average climate change emissions express as carbon dioxide equivalents per kilowatt hour (kwh) and per BTU.  Electric companies shall publish the percentage of each type of fuel used to generate electricity.  Said schedules shall be printed in such form and distributed and published in such manner as the department may require.

SECTION 2. Chapter 164 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding after section 1J the following section:-

Section 1K. To promote transparency within the natural gas and electric distribution sector for the commonwealth, the department of public utilities shall provide and make publicly available on the internet, on an annual basis, all data involving energy use of residential and commercial customers in each municipality in the commonwealth.

Said data shall include, but not be limited to the following: total energy use and number of residential customers in each municipality; average energy use per residential customer of each municipality; total energy use and number of commercial customers in each municipality; and the average climate change emissions expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents per kilowatt hour (kwh) and per BTU. Electric companies shall also publish the percentage of each type of fuel used to generate electricity in the form of a pie chart.

The department shall update on its website postings to comply with this section within seven business days of any change and post the date on which the information was updated.  The department shall publish aggregate data for each municipality in a manner allowing for the comparison of data from year to year, and for comparison of the average fuel use per household from municipality to municipality.  Website postings shall include both numerical data and graphs.  A public utility may also post the information required but is not required to do so.

All website postings required by this Act must be sufficiently prominent as to be readily accessible.

SECTION 3. Section 11G of said chapter 25A, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the first paragraph the following paragraphs:-

Gas and electric companies shall file annually with the department of public utilities schedules, in such form as the department shall from time to time prescribe, the following: the number of households in each municipality that request about an energy assessment; the number of households in each municipality that sign a contract to have energy efficiency upgrades; the number of households in each municipality that complete contracted energy efficiency upgrades; the average dollars spent on each household; and the average energy reductions per household.

So much of said schedules shall be printed in such form and distributed and published in such manner that the data is readily understandable and available, and that the department may require.

The department shall update on its website postings to comply with this section within seven business days of any change and post the date on which the information was updated.  The department shall publish aggregate data for each municipality in a manner allowing for the comparison of data from year to year.  Website postings shall include both numerical data and graphs.  A public utility may also post the information required, but is not required to do so.

All website postings required by this Act must be sufficiently prominent as to be readily accessible.