The cheapest energy is the kind we never use. With the heightened focus on energy burden and high costs, award-winning programs designed to permanently reduce the amount of energy we use, thus curbing bills AND peak demand, couldn’t be more important.

That’s why ACT and our allies are working hard to strategize and speak out against cuts to Mass Save and other energy efficiency and demand response programs across the region, where the impact on consumers and the local workforce hangs in the balance.

Mass Save returns $3.51 for every $1 invested and funds ConnectedSolutions, the nation-leading VPP program. Cutting it would increase costs to all ratepayers, not just program participants. It would also send a troubling message to neighboring states that look to Massachusetts’ leadership.

As the Senate considers the future of Mass Save, ACT is working to organize and inform the groundswell of voices urging them to resist proposed cuts beyond the $500 million reduction approved by the Department of Public Utilities in February 2025.

The energy efficiency workforce isn’t like a faucet that can be turned on and off. Making further cuts in the third year of a three-year program cycle would mean huge layoffs, and have ripple effects on the 87,000 people employed in the Massachusetts energy efficiency sector.

Energy efficiency and demand response paired with more clean energy and storage are a winning combination that will help improve comfort and lower costs in the long-run.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? If you live or work in Massachusetts, contact your state senator and urge them to pass an energy bill that keeps investments in clean energy strong and makes zero cuts to Mass Save in the 2025-27 program cycle. You are welcome to download and share ACT’s 2-Pager about Mass Save and ConnectedSolutions.

If you’d like to learn more and get involved, please reach out to ACT’s Sr. Director of Policy Natalie Treat at ntreat@joinact.org.

View the Fact Sheet Here.