HB2234 – Revising the utility energy assistance programs for low-income households.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Ybarra (R; 13th District; Quincy) (Co-Sponsor Couture, R)
Current status – Had a hearing in the House Committee on Environment & Energy on January 18th. Still in committee at cutoff.
Next step would be – Dead
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Summary
The bill would specify that utilities with over 25,000 customers have to have two or more programs for providing energy assistance to low-income households and that other utilities have to have at least one. It would shift from requiring priority for households with a high energy burden to allowing that. Programs could include direct bill assistance, support for energy efficiency and space conditioning measures, support for on-sight generation or energy storage systems or both, or other mechanisms that reduce the amount those households spend on energy.

The law currently requires utilities to assess the energy assistance that would be needed to fund the greater of meeting 60% of current needs by 2030 or increasing assistance by 15% over 2018 levels by then, as well as assessing the assistance needed to meet 90% of the current need by 2050. This bill would change that to simply assessing what would be required to meet 60% and 90% of the current needs for assistance. It would also require an assessment of the average amount that the monthly energy bills of non low-income households would have to increase to fund the utility’s providing assistance at those levels.