Cheaper winter heating coming to Massachusetts

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Northeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

ELECTRIFICATION

• Some Massachusetts households are set to save money on heating next winter as the state’s three main electric utilities will all offer a seasonal discount rate for customers using heat pumps. (Canary Media)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire are among nearly 70 facilities the Trump administration has given a two-year break from complying with updated federal regulations limiting mercury emissions and other pollutants. (E&E News, EPA)

• A Rhode Island judge holds off on making a decision about whether to dismiss a state lawsuit asking Chevron to pay for damages caused by climate change, but orders the oil giant to hand over documents dating back to 1965. (Rhode Island Current)

• An investigation finds gaps in a Maryland utility’s natural gas safety protocols after an employee filed thousands of false inspection reports while actually spending supposed working hours on a boat. (Baltimore Sun)

OFFSHORE WIND

• Four out of 10 new members of a Rhode Island fishermen’s advisory panel on offshore wind plan to step down just a week after their confirmation votes, potentially upending an attempt to revive the group after all its previous members quit in 2023 after saying their input was being ignored. (Rhode Island Current)

FEDERAL FUNDING

• A group of universities — including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, and Princeton University — file a lawsuit seeking to block the U.S. Department of Energy’s plan to cut research funding, arguing the move would ​“devastate scientific research.” (NBC News)

• Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed urges the federal energy and transportation departments to release $80 million in previously awarded funds to support EV charging infrastructure, heat pump deployment, and other clean energy and efficiency measures. (Providence Business News)

CLIMATE

• Making plant-based meals the default at New York City hospitals proves an emission-reducing success, and shows how making climate-friendly options the norm can encourage their adoption, Michael Grunwald writes.

REGULATION

• Connecticut’s embattled head public utility regulator is reconfirmed despite a walkout by Republican state senators in protest of the deal that was supposedly cut to secure her position for another term. (CT Mirror)

AFFORDABILITY

• As high power bills squeeze consumers across the country, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island are among the blue states considering measures to limit the profit investor-owned utilities can earn. (Politico)

• A new bill before the Connecticut legislature would attempt to lower consumer electric bills by changing how utilities buy power, creating time-of-use rates to incentivize power use at lower-demand times, and removing the public benefits charge, which helps fund energy efficiency programs. (Hartford Courant)

GRID

• Ratepayer advocates from three states ask federal regulators to compel grid operator PJM to rerun its last capacity auction in an attempt to save ratepayers $5 billion. (Utility Dive)

• PJM could also save Maryland households an average of $546 on electricity annually by speeding up its approval process for adding new power generation to the grid, a new report from a national environmental nonprofit concludes. (Maryland Matters)

• Maine lawmakers advance a bill that would clarify that the state legislature need not vote to approve plans for transmission lines the body had itself requested, saying this tweak will allow new infrastructure to be developed at lower cost to ratepayers. (Maine Morning Star)