MassSave Rebate Issues Raised, there may be hope for progress

Our State Representative Jeff Roy made the news this week with one of his hearings this week. He had the utilities (NationalGrid, Eversource, etc.) in for a hearing and he raised some questions on the MassSave program. NewsCenter 5 had been running a series on rebate issues with MassSave so it was timely and got some action. There is still more to be done, so if you have MassSave issue, let Jeff know.

"Massachusetts state lawmakers are now demanding answers from the state's utility companies after NewsCenter 5's reporting about ongoing problems at Mass Save.

That's the energy efficiency program the utilities are required by state law to run, paying homeowners who make their homes more energy efficient.

Mass Save is critical to Massachusetts meeting its climate goals, but over the past two years the program has been plagued by long delays in issuing rebates, difficult-to-reach customer service and even bounced checks. Dozens of consumers from across the state have told NewsCenter 5 they can't get adequate explanations about what's slowing their rebates from Mass Save.

The program is funded by billions of dollars paid by utility customers across the state through a surcharge on monthly utility bills. The current three-year Mass Save program is funded at $4 billion."

Continue reading on the NewsCenter 5 page with the video clip ->   https://www.wcvb.com/article/massachusetts-lawmakers-demand-answers-utilities-mass-save-delays/45738082

MassSave Rebate Issues Raised, there may be hope for progress

Dehumidifier Turn-In Event successfully recycled 81 units on May 20, 2023

The Dehumidifier Turn-In Event hosted by the Sponsors of Mass Save last on Saturday, May 20, 2023 in Franklin was a success! 81 units were recycled and there were 73 applications.

L to R: Bill Stack - Eversource, Cobi Frongillo - Aide from Rep Roy’s Office, Fred Cullen - Green Team, Taylor Bennett – National Grid

Do you have a Dehumidifier (working) to get rid of? Saturday, May 20 from 10 AM to 2 PM

Do you have an old dehumidifier in your basement collecting dust while you procrastinate getting rid of it? This weekend, stop putting off the task and recycle it at a dehumidifier turn-in event in Franklin hosted by the Sponsors of Mass Save. You can receive $30!

 

Here’s what you need to know:

• What: Dehumidifier Turn-In Event
• Where: Chilson Beach | 450 Beaver Street, Franklin, MA 02038
• When: Saturday, May 20, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
• Why: Most towns charge residents to recycle appliances. This is a great opportunity to recycle your dehumidifier* for FREE and receive a $30 rebate from the Sponsors of Mass Save!

*Must be a working dehumidifier

Do you have a Dehumidifier (working) to get rid of?

 

Join Franklin resident and State Representative Jeffrey N. Roy, who will be in attendance, and others in helping the environment by cleaning out some storage.

 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. 

For more details on upcoming events like this one, please visit https://www.masssave.com/residential/shop-products/recycling/dehumidifier.

Hear about green banking and more in this Making Sense of Climate episode with State Rep Jeff Roy - 11/15/22 (audio)

FM #887 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 887 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Ted McIntyre, Franklin resident and climate activist. For this session we were joined by State Representative Jeffrey Roy. We recorded this via the Zoom conference bridge Tuesday, November 15, 2022.  

In this episode we covered the following topics: 

• Green banking, what is it?

• Smart metering, better able to manage use by knowing what and when it is being used; rebate potential for off-peak use

• Grimsby, England and video segment on 60 Minutes; Franklin Sheet Metal part of the developing ecosystem being built to support green energy

• Building net zero stretch code opt in, pilot with 10 communities to gain lessons learned; Clean Heat Report due Nov 2022

• How Will it be working on climate legislation with the new Governor

This discussion continues our journey understanding the MA roadmap toward net zero and while it helps me “make sense of climate”, we hope it helps with your understanding as well. 

If you have climate questions or Franklin specific climate questions, send them in and we’ll try to answer them in a future session.  

The conversation runs about 59 minutes. Let’s listen to my conversation with Ted and Jeff  Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-887-making-sense-of-climate-19-11-15-22

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Grimsby, England and 60 Minutes video segment

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/wind-energy-grimsby-england-60-minutes-video-2022-10-16/#x 

Elton John “Grimsby”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7K3ddSNGbA 

Link to Channel 5 piece on MassSave -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/11/representative-roy-addresses-masssave.html 

See the page that collects the “Making Sense of Climate” episodes -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/02/making-sense-of-climate-collection.html 

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

Windblade testing at Wind Technology Testing Center

Representative Roy addresses MassSave payment delays with WCVB Channel 5

Representative Jeffrey N. Roy sat down with WCVB Channel 5’s Ben Simmoneau to talk about problems with Mass Save and the long delays and missing payments due to customers seeking rebates toward new heating units. Ben leads the station’s nationally recognized consumer reporting franchise, “Ben Has Your Back.”

The complete report involving Mass Save can be viewed at https://youtu.be/fe9nhZJ-_VI or https://www.wcvb.com/article/ben-has-your-back-mass-save-payment-delays-heating/41823743.

MassSave is an initiative sponsored by Massachusetts’ natural gas and electric utilities and energy efficiency service providers, including The Berkshire Gas Company, Blackstone Gas Company, Cape Light Compact, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, Eversource, Liberty Utilities, National Grid, and Unitil. The sponsors of MassSave work closely with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources to provide a wide range of services, incentives, trainings, and information promoting energy efficiency that help residents and businesses manage energy use and related costs.

NewsCenter 5 took the complaints about processing delays to Rep. Roy as the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. Rep. Roy has also heard similar complaints directly and has been working with the utilities to make improvements in the service.

"It’s absolutely not satisfactory for there to be long delays in the delivery of payments," Roy said. "A reasonable amount of time to get these rebates is six to eight weeks. Beyond that is unreasonable."

At the start of the year, the state's utilities — which run MassSave — restructured the program with the state’s approval, slashing many rebates for natural gas, oil or propane while increasing money for electric heat and implementing new energy savings programs. The goal is to move homes away from heating directly with fossil fuels and toward what will soon hopefully be a greener electric grid.

Rep. Roy says the utilities blamed those changes for some of the delays. MassSave processes 100,000 rebate submissions every year, which requires a number of due diligence checks. Roy noted that helping folks get their rebates from MassSave is important for our climate change efforts.

But the processing delays are not the only problem. The two customers included in the report both had difficulty getting answers about their checks because of the complex relationship between MassSave and the utilities who actually funnel the money to the program.

Rep. Roy says if delays and communication do not improve, the state will force the utilities to fix it.

"There should be an easy way for you to get information," Roy said. "I don't care whether it's an email or a website, there should be an ombudsman available to address that."

After NewsCenter 5 got involved, both customers got their full rebates right away. MassSave blamed part of the delay on missing information on their applications, but also said both checks were held up by various processing issues.

For more information on Jeffrey Roy, please visit http://jeffreyroy.com/.

Representative Roy addresses MassSave payment delays with WCVB Channel 5

Conversation with Franklin's State Representative Jeff Roy - 11/23/21 (audio)

FM #669 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 669 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with our State Representative Jeffrey Roy. We had our conversation virtually via the Zoom conference bridge on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

We talked about: 

• Thanksgiving, time for thanks

• Wind power and renewable energy efforts

• Genocide bill, legislative terms (engrossment, enactment)

• Recycling event pilot now going state-wide

• Critical conversations on mental health substance abuse

• Civil and civic conversations for government discussions

Links to the key references are included in the show notes. The recording runs about 59 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Jeff Roy.

*** Audio file => https://player.captivate.fm/episode/e615231a-39f6-4f26-82c0-d37cd261a70c

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Wind power ground breaking event https://twitter.com/jeffroy/status/1461667359865942017

 

Commonwealth Magazine article: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/a-first-step-on-offshore-wind-2/

 

Genocide legislation text  https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/S2557

 

Genocide bill articles: Public officials, faith leaders denounce antisemitism at Holocaust memorial menorah lighting, Boston Globe (11/30/21); A bill heading to Governor Charlie Baker’s desk would require Mass. school districts to teach about genocides, Boston Globe (11/27/21); Massachusetts mandates genocide education, Armenian Weekly (11/16/21); Beacon Hill eyeing tradeoffs on offshore wind, Commonwealth Magazine (10/18/21)

 

Green Team webpage https://www.gogreenteamjunk.com/  event listing (not showing future events at this time)  https://www.gogreenteamjunk.com/events

 

Mass Save web page (sign up for energy audits, etc.)  https://www.masssave.com/

 

SAFE Coalition presentation as mentioned in the discussion (Town Council meeting of 9/15/21) ->  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/09/franklin-ma-town-council-meeting.html

SAFE Coalition web page -> https://www.safecoalitionma.org/home

Get Help Now! For Help Call the SAFE Support Hotline: 508-488-8105

You can listen to Danielle Allen on an episode of "More Perfect Union" https://player.captivate.fm/episode/5230abc8-a5e5-4ec6-89b3-2f1e1beeaa11

--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

State Representative Jeff Roy

Recap: Franklin Recycling and Energy Event - Sep 18, 2021

An update on the Recycling event held Saturday, Sep 18, 2021 via State Representative Jeff Roy, one of the co-sponsor: 

"We had a very successful Franklin Recycling and Energy Event at Chilson Beach Parking Lot on Beaver Street today. Over 300 cars were served and over 100 dehumidifiers were delivered in exchange for $30 and a rebate on a new purchase. 

The program typically brings in 1,600 dehumidifiers annually across the state, and we did 100 in just one day in Franklin. We also collected four truckloads of furniture for Habitat for Humanity and two truckloads of electronics for recycling. We had folks from Eversource and Mass Save to sign up customers for energy savings repairs in their homes. It was a great way to help fight climate change and reduce energy costs. 

Much thanks to Fred Frederick Cullen at Green Team Junk Removal, Marcie Rappa, National Grid, MassSave, Habitat for Humanity, and the Town of Franklin for helping put it all together and make it a success. And thank you to the residents for helping save the planet by showing up and turning in your unused goods and recycling them."

Shared from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/534850033/posts/10165383002125034/

The notification of this event including the listing of sponsors

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/09/attention-franklin-recycling-and-energy.html

Recap: Franklin Recycling and Energy Event - Sep 18, 2021