Mass. Senate Quietly Blocks Probe Into Why Your Electric Bills Are So High

Massachusetts ratepayers almost got a chance to find out why their electric rates are among the highest in the nation. That is, until the Democrat-controlled State Senate squashed a proposed amendment to investigate the matter.

And it wasn't even close.

A Puzzling, Unrecorded Standing Vote

State House News Service reported the amendment, filed by Minority Leader Senator Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), was defeated on a standing vote, "one in which each member's individual vote is not recorded."

According to SHNS, "When the vote was called, five senators stood in support: Republicans Tarr and Sens. Ryan Fattman, Peter Durant, and Kelly Dooner, and (New Bedford) Democrat Mark Montigny," who SHNS reported "shielded his face with a folder as he stood to support the Republican proposal."

Tarr filed Senate Amendment #311 to the FY27 budget to establish a special task force to analyze and increase the transparency of electric rates for commercial and residential customers.

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The Fight for Utility Bill Transparency

SHNS said Tarr's amendment sought to identify the "origin, purpose, and regulatory basis of each cost component; tallying the total statewide revenue raised by each component, by utility and customer class; and comparing Massachusetts to nearby and competitor states."

Tarr's amendment would have required the task force to issue a report by September 2027.

In defense of the amendment, Tarr stated, "Those costs are applied through a regulatory system that we don't vote on, we don't debate. And yet this is one of the most significant costs in the lives of people in Massachusetts."

Exposing the $2.9 Billion Surcharge Cloud

Tarr cited what he referred to as a "recently published estimate" in arguing that those costs total "about $2.9 billion per year, and that is for the climate-related surcharges alone."