Agenda
National Grid · from the Town's website · released Apr 9, 2025 · 1 page · 49 KB
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NOTICE OF FILING, PUBLIC HEARINGS, AND REQUEST FOR COMMENTS D.P.U. 24194February 25, 2025 Petition of Boston Gas Company, Massachusetts Electric Company and Nantucket Electric Company for Approval of a Targeted Electrification Demonstration Program and Targeted Electrification Demonstration Program Provision. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On December 6, 2024, Boston Gas Company, Massachusetts Electric Company, and Nantucket Electric Company, each d/b/a National Grid (collectively “National Grid” or “Companies”) filed with the Department of Public Utilities (“Department”) a petition for approval of a Targeted Electrification Demonstration Program (“Demonstration Program”). National Grid states that the goal of the Demonstration Program is to decommission one or more segments of leak-prone gas pipeline through voluntary customer electrification. The Department has docketed this matter as D.P.U. 24194. Under the proposed program, National Grid will offer approximately 118 residential gas customers in Winthrop and Leominster, Massachusetts to switch all of their existing gas appliances to electric appliances, including air source heat pumps, at no upfront cost. National Grid states that all of the customers served by a segment of leak-prone gas pipe will need to agree to participate so that the segment of gas pipe can be decommissioned through the Demonstration Program. Assuming that the Demonstration Program is approved as filed and all 118 residential gas customers agree to participate, the Companies estimate that the total cost of the Demonstration Program will be $17.1 million. National Grid proposes to recover the costs of the Demonstration Program as described below. Costs Recovered from Electric Customers $11.3 million of the estimated Demonstration Program costs will be recovered through a new annual reconciling mechanism, which the Companies refer to as the Targeted Electrification Demonstration Program Provision. $1.3 million for capital-related electric network upgrades for the Demonstration Program will be recovered through National Grid’s Infrastructure, Safety, Reliability and Electrification Provision. Costs Recovered from Gas Customers $1.9 million to decommission the gas pipeline will be recovered through National Grid’s Gas System Enhancement Program. National Grid also estimates that the Demonstration Program participants will be eligible to receive $2.6 million in Mass Save incentives. The Companies state that customers will not experience a new bill increase associated with these incentives because the cost of the Mass Save incentives are already included in the Massachusetts 2025-2027 Energy Efficiency and Decarbonization Plan. If the Department approves National Grid’s Demonstration Program as filed, National Grid states electric customers will experience the following bill impacts through the Targeted Electrification Demonstration Program Provision: Residential basic service customers with a typical usage of 600 kilowatt-hours (“kWh”) per month would experience a monthly bill increase of $0.06 or 0.03 percent in year one and $0.56 or 0.26 percent in year two. Low-income residential basic service customers with a typical usage of 600 kilowatt-hours (“kWh”) per month would experience a monthly bill increase of $0.04 or 0.03 percent in year one and $0.38 or 0.26 percent in year two. The Department will conduct two public hearings to receive comment on the Companies’ petition as follows: April 7, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. Tata Auditorium Leominster City Hall 25 West Street Leominster, MA 01453 (Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole interpretation available) April 9, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. Harvey Hearing Room Winthrop City Hall 1 Metcalf Square Winthrop, MA 02152 (Spanish interpretation available) The Department will also conduct a virtual public hearing using Zoom videoconferencing on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. Attendees can join the virtual public hearing at 7:00 p.m. by entering the link, https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84267779519 from a computer, smartphone, or tablet. No prior software download is required. For audioonly access to the public hearing, attendees can dial in at 305-224-1968 or 309-205-3325 (not toll free) and then enter the Webinar ID: 842 6777 9519. Interpretation services for Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian-Creole will be available over the Zoom platform by clicking the “Interpretation” button on the menu at the bottom of the Zoom application screen and selecting your language. Any person interested in commenting on this matter may submit written comments no later than the close of business (5:00 p.m.) on April 17, 2025. Written comments from the public may be sent by email to dpu.efiling@mass.gov, jennifer.cargill@mass.gov, and the Company’s attorney, John K. Habib, Esq. at jhabib@keeganwerlin.com. Please note that in the interest of transparency, any comments will be posted to our website as received and without redacting personal information, such as addresses, telephone numbers, or email addresses. As such, consider the extent of information you wish to share when submitting comments. The Department strongly encourages public comments to be submitted by email. If, however, a member of the public is unable to send written comments by email, a paper copy may be sent to Mark D. Marini, Secretary, Department of Public Utilities, One South Station, Boston, Massachusetts, 02110. Any person who desires to participate otherwise in the evidentiary phase of this proceeding shall file a petition for leave to intervene no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 18, 2025. A petition for leave to intervene must satisfy the timing and substantive requirements of 220 CMR 1.03. Receipt by the Department constitutes filing and determines whether a petition has been timely filed. A petition filed late may be disallowed as untimely, unless good cause is shown for waiver under 220 CMR 1.01(4). To be allowed, a petition under 220 CMR 1.03(1) must satisfy the standing requirements of G.L. c. 30A, § 10. All responses to petitions to intervene must be filed by the close of business (5:00 p.m.) on the second business day after the petition to intervene was filed. All documents should be submitted to the Department in .pdf format by email attachment to dpu.efiling@mass.gov and jennifer.cargill@mass.gov. The text of the email must specify: (1) the docket number of the proceeding (D.P.U. 24-194); (2) the name of the person or company submitting the filing; and (3) a brief descriptive title of the document. All documents submitted in electronic format will be posted on the Department’s website through our online File Room as soon as practicable (enter “24-194”) at: https://eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/DPU/Fileroom/dockets/bynumber. In addition, one copy of all written comments and petitions to intervene should be emailed to the Company’s attorney, John K. Habib, Esq. at jhabib@keeganwerlin.com. The filing and all subsequent related documents submitted to the Department or issued by the Department will be available on the Department’s website as referenced above as soon as is practicable. To the extent a person or entity wishes to submit comments or intervene in accordance with this Notice, electronic submission, as detailed above, is sufficient. To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), contact the Department’s ADA coordinator at eeadiversity@mass.gov or 6176261282. For further information regarding the Company’s filing, please contact the Company’s attorney, identified above. For further information regarding this Notice, please contact Jennifer Cargill, Hearing Officer, Department of Public Utilities, at jennifer.cargill@mass.gov.