SECTION 1. Chapter 23J of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 16. (a) There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund known as the Municipal Utility Equity and Innovation Fund to be administered by the center.

(b) The center shall make expenditures from the fund for the purpose of providing grants to support municipal utility projects that advance the deployment of clean energy, energy storage, building decarbonization, distribution capacity, integrated resource planning, the retirement of fossil fuel facilities or peak energy reduction.

(c) When deciding which projects will receive grants through this fund, the center shall prioritize projects that explicitly and directly benefit environmental justice populations, as defined in section 62 of chapter 30, low or moderate income housing, as defined in section 20 of chapter 40B or elderly housing, as defined in section 1 of chapter 19D.

(d) The center shall prioritize projects that advance new and innovative technologies, strategies and methods to equitably reduce emissions for grants through this fund.

(e) The center shall include the fund's activity in the annual report required by section 5. The center shall also annually, not later than October 1 and at least 30 days prior to the expenditure of any funds, submit a plan detailing the planned uses of funds in the upcoming calendar year with the joint committee on telecommunications, utilities and energy and the house and senate committees on ways and means. The center shall hold at least 1 public hearing to solicit stakeholder feedback in the development of this plan

(f) Fifty million dollars for the Municipal Utility Equity and Innovation Fund shall be fully incorporated in the general appropriations act not later than fiscal year 2024, subject to

appropriation. Any money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.

SECTION 2. Section 11F of chapter 25A of the General Laws, as amended by chapter 8 of the acts of 2021 and chapter 179 of the acts of 2022, is hereby further amended by striking out subsection (i) and inserting in place thereof the following 2 subsections:-

(i) A municipal lighting plant shall be exempt from the obligations under this section until December 31, 2029, so long as and insofar as it is exempt from the requirements to allow competitive choice of generation supply under section 47A of chapter 164. Beginning January 1, 2030, a municipal lighting plant shall meet the obligations set forth in this section.

(j) The center shall allocate $7,500,000 from the Municipal Utility Equity and Innovation Fund, subject to appropriation, to directly support qualifying municipal utilities in meeting the obligations set forth in this section by 2030. A qualifying municipal utility shall be a municipal utility that either: (i) has an annual load that is less than 20,000 megawatt hours; or (ii) serves municipalities with a median household income that is below the state’s average median household income.

SECTION 3. Section 17 of said chapter 25A, as amended by chapter 179 of the acts of 2022, is hereby further amended by striking out subsection (d) and inserting in place thereof the following subsection:-

(d) This section shall not apply to municipal lighting plants until the year 2030. Beginning January 1, 2030, a municipal lighting plant shall meet the obligations set forth in this section.