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The data is clear: if the DPU stopped overcharging heat pumps, they’d be more than able to compete with natural gas. In fact, they’d turn into a potent vehicle for energy affordability in MA, and in other cold states.

Think of it this way: Under 2.0 rates, heat pump customers would pay fewer cents per kWh for delivery, but they’d consume more kWh overall, so the total delivery payment would be approximately the same on average.

Here’s a crucial point: this wouldn’t cost the state, or other ratepayers, anything. The 2.0 rates are specifically designed so that the electric utilities would collect the same amount in poles-and-wires payments before and after homes electrify, on average.

How much would homes save? • Homes switching from natural gas would save a median of $361, per winter • Those currently on heating oil would save a median of $1,071 • Homes with electric resistance heating would save a whopping $1,755 And no added costs for other ratepayers.

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But would it make homes’ winter energy bills lower than before they installed heat pumps? For the large majority of homes in Massachusetts, yes: 82% would see savings from switching to a heat pump, up from 45% today.

Our report models new rates (“2.0 rates”) proposed by MA’s own Department of Energy Resources (DOER)that would correct the overcharge. For the average household with heat pumps, the 2.0 rates would cut electricity bills by 23%.

Massachusetts has started rolling out new rates that offer lower delivery rates during winter for heat pump homes (“1.0” rates). It’s a step in the right direction—but not enough to fully correct the overcharge, or close the operating cost gap. 4/

Today, utilities are paying back loans for the grid they’ve already built to serve the summer peak. Because these costs are fixed, increased revenue from electrifying households allows utilities to reduce rates, which lowers electric bills for non-heat pump customers.

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In fact, only around 80% of the New England grid’s capacity is currently used during the winter. When a cold-climate heat pump is installed today, its heating load simply taps into this spare wintertime capacity.

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But today, and for the next decade, heat pump installations are not triggering widespread grid upgrades, because MA grid is already designed to serve heat pumps: the millions of one-way heat pumps—also known as air-conditioners—that 87% of MA homes use to keep cool during the summer.

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This makes sense if the household’s new winter-time electricity use creates a need for an upgrade to those poles and wires. In that case, the household would need to pay for these new costs to avoid imposing them on other customers.

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This isn’t because “gas is cheap.” It’s because heat pumps are being overcharged for the grid. When homes electrify, they consume roughly 2x as much electricity. Under today’s largely volumetric rates, that means they pay 2x for the electrons, and 2x for the poles and wires that deliver them.

Here’s the problem: under current electric rates, switching to a heat pump *increases* winter heating bills for over half of MA homes. That’s a major barrier to clean energy adoption. 2/

Green Energy Consumers Alliance @geconsumers.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

📢 New report drop: Heat Pump Rates in Massachusetts Heat pumps could cut bills for thousands of MA households—but only if the state gets the rates right. Right now, many heat pump users are being *overcharged* for their share of the grid. 1/🧵 🔗 www.switch.box/mahprates #energysky #climatesky

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Reposted by Switchbox

A new analysis from @switch.box shows that 82% of MA households could see substantial winter heating savings with high-efficiency heat pumps under proposed rate reforms! Read the full report: www.switch.box/mahprates

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Switchbox @switch.box · 14/07/2025

Forthcoming report! Heat pumps are systematically overpaying for the electricity they use. A new “heat pump-friendly” rate under consideration in MA would fix that imbalance, helping heat pumps beat natural gas on operating costs for most households. Report drops next Tue the 22nd, RSVP for webinar!

us06web.zoom.us

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Lower Bills, Cleaner Heat: How proposed heat pump rates can save Massachusetts residents hundreds of dollars on their heating bills. After registering, you ...

Heat pumps are already the most efficient way to heat and cool a home, but outdated electric rates mean many Massachusetts heat pump owners are overpaying for the electricity they use. A new “heat pum...

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Probably nothing could have stopped the blackout once the 2 big plants went offline @ 12:33:16.5 (an "N-2" event). But the grid _did_ manage the initial generation loss ("N-1") at 12:32:57.3.

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Getting the Grid to Net Zero

Absolutely possible with just GFM inverters: some island grids (eg Kauai) operate 90+% inverter-based resources (IBR) for most of the year, but rotational mass helps. The best is GFM + batteries: GFM mimics rotating inertia for the first few seconds as batteries ramp up to handle any imbalances.

spectrum.ieee.org

An emerging technology, grid-forming inverters, are letting utilities install more renewable energy facilities, such as solar photovoltaics and wind turbines. The inverters are often connected to util...

Technical Roadmap Guides Research Direction for Grid-Forming Inverters | NREL

Credit to Rick Wallace Kenyon et al at #NREL for the graphic! They very literally wrote the roadmap for grid forming inverter research (link ⤵️) www2.nrel.gov/news/detail/...

www2.nrel.gov

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Switchbox’s general stance: open data → curiosity → dialogue → insight. For the #apagon of April 28, we’re still in the open data phase (curiosity is kind of always on). Ask us questions if you’re curious about technical details! (9/9)

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So the blackout of April 28, unfortunate though it was, will be a training set for how solar, wind, and battery plants can and should (_and shouldn’t_) operate. But the lessons will come from researchers and engineers and modelers, and they need data. (8/9)

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So it’s not a hardware problem, its a software problem (solar and wind generally vs the controllers that feed their generation into the grid). Good news…software is cheap! And to develop good software, we need lots of training data. And standards! More for nerds 👇 (7/9)

energy.gov

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It was the worst of inverters: Grid-following inverter controls can interact in weird ways, and this _could be_ (we don’t know yet!) one contributor to the sub-synchronous oscillations that were observed right before the blackout. Read this paper www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... or 👇(6/9)

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It was the best of inverters: GFM inverter controls can actively damp out those undesired oscillations and keep the grid running smoothly. Btw #NREL and DoE do this research..let’s keep them at work. (5/9)

nrel.gov

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A tale of two inverters: until now, most PV farms use “grid-following” inverter controls (GFL). These just follow the grid frequency signal, even if it’s going unstable. The world is moving quickly towards “grid-form” inverter controls (GFM), which actively help stabilize the grid. (4/9)

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Generation loss was the proximate cause, but many blame solar plants for the conditions that made the Spanish grid unstable. Grids need inertia, and indeed _rotational_ inertia was low, but inverter-based resources can contribute synthetic inertia to achieve the same levels of resilience. (3/9)

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LEMUR's Apagon Analysis v20250508 | Lemur Research Group

Based on what public data we have, the blackout was triggered by a handful of large generators tripping offline in close sequence. From the first outage to the blackout was 19 seconds. Losing two generators is beyond the grid’s normal capabilities (an “N-2” event). Nerds: read more 👇 (2/9)

linkedin.com

El grupo de investigación LEMUR ha estado recopilando todos los datos públicos que ha podido encontrar sobre el Apagon del 28 de abril. Como muchos han dicho, la repentina pérdida de generación y la r...

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Alliance for a Green Economy 🌱 @agreeny.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Our energy modeling lead, Bryan Murray, studies electrical grid controls…in Spain! He needs to get something off his chest about the #blackout last week: PV & batteries did not cause the Iberian blackout. In fact they will be more crucial for grid stability going forward. Here's why #energysky (1/9)

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Reposted by Switchbox

New York continues to spend billions on outdated gas infrastructure. A new @switch.box report shows targeted electrification is a smarter, cheaper path— the NY HEAT Act can make it happen. On 4/8, join us and @nyforcleanpower.bsky.social to learn more bit.ly/Electrify-NYS #NYHEATAct

Graphic for Targeted Electrification in New York Teach in with Jessica Azulay, Executive Director of Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE) and Juan-Pablo Velez, Executive Director of Switchbox. Tuesday, April 8, Noon to 1 P.M.

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Reposted by Switchbox

New Yorkers for Clean Power @nyforcleanpower.org · 28/03/2025

Our latest report asks a simple question: What if, instead of spending billions replacing aging gas pipes, utilities helped nearby homes switch to electric heating? The data shows this would often cost less, lower utility bills, AND cut pollution.Full report: switch.box/lpp Let's break it down: 1/6

Illustration of the leak prone pipe replacement vs. targeted electrification

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Reposted by Switchbox

New York continues to spend billions on outdated gas infrastructure. A new report from @switch.box shows targeted electrification is a smarter, cheaper path— the NY HEAT Act can make it happen. 🗓️ April 8, 12 PM | Virtual Register: bit.ly/Electrify-NYS #Electrification #NYHEATAct

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But, but, but! Policy reforms are needed to make this common-sense approach possible Right now, if even a single customer on a pipe segment says no projects cant move forward, NY HEAT currently in front of NYS would removethis hurdle. #nyheat 6/6

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Our analysis found this approach could save $4.7 billion through 2050 while electrifying over 313,000 homes. In the most suitable areas, it's about $10,465 cheaper per home to go electric than to replace the pipes—with savings growing to nearly $52,000 by 2050! 5/6

The median upfront costs per household to replace leak-prone pipleine in 2025 (2025 USD) by utility

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"Targeted electrification" offers an alternative: Instead of replacing old gas pipes, utilities could help nearby homes switch to electric appliances. Think heat pumps instead of gas furnaces, electric stoves instead of gas ranges. 4/6

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To put these costs in context: New York utilities spent over two billion dollars on pipe replacement in 2022-23 alone. That’s more than twice what the state spent to cut emissions from building gas combustion. #energysky 3/6

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Here's the situation: We estimate NY utilities plan to spend $43 billion to replace leak-prone gas pipes by 2050, all of which will be paid back by hiking gas bills. But, gas use in homes and biz fell by 13% 2019-2024 and will likely continue falling as the climate warms and homes go electric. 2/6

Map of leak prone pipe replacement costs per mile across utility service territories (2025 USD)

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Here's the situation: We estimate NY utilities plan to spend $43 billion to replace leak-prone gas pipes by 2050, all of which will be paid back by hiking gas bills. But gas use in homes and biz fell by 13% 2019-2024 and will likely continue falling as the climate warms and more homes go electric.

Map of leak prone pipe replacement costs per mile across utiltiy service territories (2025 USD)

Switchbox @switch.box · 21/01/2025

Preview! Dandelion Energy CEO Kathy Hannun will talk at this Thursday's Speaker Series event about what state's are getting right and wrong when supporting deployment of ground source heat pumps. Don't miss it! RSVP here: lnkd.in/g4XF8A9s

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Switchbox @switch.box · 14/01/2025

Our most recent report on NY's forthcoming Cap-and-Invest program was covered by Politico, along with another excellent study by @rff.org and @nycejalliance.bsky.social that reached similar conclusions about the transformative potential of putting a price on carbon in New York State. #energysky

subscriber.politicopro.com

POLITICO Pro: Most New York households would benefit from higher cap-and-invest prices, reports say

Two reports backed by environmental advocates found distributing money raised from a cap-and-trade program would leave households better off.

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Switchbox @switch.box · 13/01/2025

It’s cap-and-trade: the state would sell pollution permits to polluters in an auction. But they would set a price ceiling, above which they would sell unlimited allowances, which turns the program essentially into a carbon tax.