Renewable Energy Trust Fund

Summary

Massachusetts Public Benefit Funds

Massachusetts's 1997 electric utility restructuring legislation created two separate public benefit funds to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency for all customer classes.

Funding and Administration

The Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust Fund is supported by a non-bypassable systems benefits charge of $0.0005 per kilowatt-hour (0.5 mill/kWh), imposed on customers of all investor-owned electric utilities and competitive municipal utilities in Massachusetts. (Non-competitive municipal utilities generally may opt into the Fund by agreeing to the same provisions that apply to investor-owned utilities and competitive municipal utilities.) 

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a quasi-public research and development entity, administers the Fund with oversight and planning assistance from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and an advisory board. The Fund does not have an expiration date.

Programs

The Fund may provide grants, contracts, loans, equity investments, energy production credits, bill credits, and rebates to customers. The fund is authorized to support “Class I” and “Class II” renewables, In addition, the Fund may support combined heat and power (CHP) systems less than 60 kilowatts (kW), solar hot water, geothermal heating and cooling projects, biomass thermal and storage and conversion technologies connected to qualifying generation projects.

The Fund is required to transfer, upon the written request of the governor, moneys in the fund, in an amount not exceeding $17 million in the aggregate, for deposit in the state's general fund. In turn, the state must use any transferred money to enter into long-term contracts for the purchase of renewable energy. The maximum payment in any fiscal year under all such contracts is limited to $5 million.

Additional information regarding the Fund and the programs it supports is available on the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's website.