Amendment ID: S3143-36

Amendment 36

Incentivizing the Reduced Use of High-Priced Gas Supply Contracts

Ms. Jehlen, Ms. Miranda and Mr. Eldridge move that the proposed new text be amended by inserting the following section:-

SECTION XX. Chapter 164 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 official edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 151 the following section:-

Section 152. To the greatest extent possible, considering relevant legal presidents, the need to protect the financial integrity of the utilities and the best interest of ratepayers, the Department shall not allow gas utilities with more than fourteen thousand residential gas customers to pass on to ratepayers any costs that: (i) are a product of gas or capacity supply agreements which are not regulated under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act, (ii) are clearly in excess of what could reasonably result from a competitive solicitation of supply in a competitive market, (iii) are worth in excess of $10 million per year, and (iv) have beyond a reasonable doubt been increased due to a failure on the part of the utility or utilities involved to take reasonable actions to end their dependence on the relevant supplier despite those utilities having had an adequate amount of time to do so.