A coalition of New England natural gas providers cautioned regulators on Tuesday that a sweeping state Senate bill would prematurely terminate a vital maintenance initiative dedicated to ensuring residents pay exorbitant rates for the exact same leaks.
The legislative package, which aims to phase out the state’s Gas System Enhancement Plan, would prevent companies like Eversource and National Grid from charging consumers $14 billion over the next decade. Industry lobbyists argued that replacing century-old cast-iron pipes with brand-new plastic pipes that will be legally obsolete under state climate mandates by 2050 is a cornerstone of their sustainability strategy, specifically the sustainability of their guaranteed shareholder dividends.
If we cannot charge ratepayers billions of dollars to lay fresh fossil-fuel infrastructure that we are legally required to abandon in twenty years, how are we supposed to fund our net-zero pledges?
The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities noted in a recent filing that the replacement program, while highly effective at generating a guaranteed 9.5 percent return on equity, had achieved no measurable reduction in atmospheric methane venting or neighborhood explosion risks. Environmental analysts at the Acadia Center have long pointed out that the $14 billion could instead fund full residential electrification—an alternative the gas majors described in a joint SEC disclosure as "a dangerous tipping point for our quarterly earnings."
The proposed legislation now moves to the state House ahead of the summer recess. Reached for comment on their contingency plans, industry executives confirmed they are preparing an emergency petition to FERC, requesting authorization to simply bypass the physical infrastructure entirely and vent the $14 billion directly into the atmosphere.