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Date: 2/28/2022
LUDLOW – On Feb. 18 Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) announced the launch of its new program, NextZero, which focuses on helping Massachusetts to reach its net zero carbon emissions goal by 2050.
MMWEC’s Sustainable Energy Policy and Program Senior Manager Bill Bullock said MMWEC is based out of Ludlow and covers Holyoke, South Hadley and Chicopee along with other towns across the state.
“NextZero is the energy efficiency and decarbonization program for municipal light plants across the state and MMWEC serves 21 towns and their municipal light plants with the program,” he said.
Through this program, Bullock said he is hoping it works toward eliminating fossil fuels in homes.
“What we do is we provide incentives to the customers of the municipal light plant to buy more efficient appliances, we do electrification incentives so giving incentives for electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, as well as incentives for conversion to electric heat or heat pumps. By eliminating the use of fossil fuels in the home, we are helping the state achieve its net zero goals by 2050,” he said.
With the launch of NextZero, Bullock said MMWEC is bringing two of its older programs together to deal with a different landscape of renewable energy needs.
“We just launched the new brand, NextZero, last week, prior to that we had two programs called HELP [Home Energy Loss Prevention Services] and GO [Green Opportunity] so NextZero is replacing those. HELP was a more traditional energy efficiency program but with the climate legislation that was passed early last year and the shift to decarbonization we thought it was time to shift our brand toward decarbonization and electrification,” he said.
Through its work, Bullock said MMWEC is helping customers and municipal light plants alike by shifting away from fossil fuels.
“Not only are we encouraging the shift of their customers off of fossil fuels, but we are also helping them make sure the portfolio of energy they are providing to their customers is meeting the net zero goal by relying more on renewable resources and non-carbon resources,” he said.
In order to meet that net zero goal, Bullock said MMWEC is accounting for many different kinds of energy sources.
“That includes solar and offshore wind, MMWEC owns a wind farm in the Berkshires and then we also have some contracts with hydro and nuclear assets, all of which are non-carbon. Given the urgency to reduce carbon emissions, we need all of the above options to transition to cleaner energy,” he said.
Kate Roy, MMWEC’s director of communications and external affairs, said the goal is to switch customers to electric appliances.
“On the customer level we are definitely promoting the electrification, so we are trying to move people off of oil, propane and natural gas use in their home. We are trying to get them to switch over to electric devices and appliances,” she said.
One way MMWEC helps shift people from fossil fuels is through energy audits at the municipal light plant level.
“Most of our members are providing home energy audits where a skilled energy auditor will come into someone’s home and look around to find opportunities for them both to reduce their electric use but also look to shift to other fuel uses, particularly around their heating systems,” he said.
By shifting to electricity from fossil fuels, Bullock said customers can save money in the long run.
“The rates for municipal light plants are typically significantly lower than the investor-owned utilities so having somebody shift from fossil fuels to electricity actually can save them more money. It is not only cleaner, but it can be cheaper, it just requires an investment up front. Many people wait until their old system is ready to be replaced so we try to provide an incentive through these programs to get them to do it as soon as we can,” he said.
Bullock added reaching net zero carbon emissions requires a multi-pronged approach.
“We want to electrify everything that we can so because while at the same time that we are shifting people to electric uses of heat and transportation, we are also shifting the energy that is provided through the wires of the municipal light plants to renewable sources,” he said. “We need to do both at once so we can meet the net zero goal by 2050, we feel like we can get there more quickly and cost effectively.”