2025 was an eventful year for energy politics in Massachusetts. It started with abnormally cold weather that sent gas and electric bills soaring, and from there, unfolded unrelenting drama as the Trump administration imposed new tariffs, rolled back Biden-era clean energy policies and targeted the offshore wind industry.
With a new year on the horizon, we thought it was a good time to check in with the state’s top energy official, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper.
Here are some takeaways from the conversation:
The biggest surprise of 2025: Attacks on offshore wind
Going into the second Trump administration, Tepper said she knew there’d be some clash between the president’s stated goals for energy dominance and the state’s clean energy priorities. But what she didn’t predict was the ferocity with which the administration would target offshore wind.
“Offshore wind is objectively a source of power that not only is clean, but runs really well in the winter, so it can help lower energy costs,” she said. “And so to be talking about electricity costs being high, and then sort of taking that off the table, I was surprised about that.”
Massachusetts, like many other states in Northeast, invested a lot of money and resources into building a robust offshore wind industry. The goal was two-fold: Secure an abundant, local and green source of electricity to meet growing demand, while also creating construction and manufacturing jobs.
After the election, but before Trump took office, many offshore wind industry observers predicted a four-year slow-down in the burgeoning segment. But few anticipated how doggedly the new administration would go after projects in the late stages of development, or even under construction.
Most recently, on Dec. 22, the Trump administration suspended leases for five projects under construction along the East Coast, effectively bringing all work on U.S. wind farms to a halt. One of those projects, Vineyard Wind, was already producing power for the New England grid, and another, Revolution Wind, was slated to come online in 2026.
Under the suspension order, Vineyard Wind is allowed to continue producing power, but it remains to be seen when any new offshore wind turbines will start generating electricity on the East Coast.
Top 2026 priority: Bring down energy prices
Massachusetts has historically had some of the highest retail energy prices in the country, and energy affordability was top of mind for residents this year — as it was for many elected officials and those running to replace them.
Tepper said her top priority for 2026 is finding ways to bring down gas and electric prices in the state. That agenda begins with pushing state lawmakers to advance a wide-ranging bill that Gov. Healey filed in May.
“This legislation will directly confront what’s driving up rates,” Tepper said. “It’s a very thoughtful piece of legislation and it addresses short-term, medium-term and long-term costs.”
If passed, the Healey administration projects the bill would save Massachusetts ratepayers $10 billion over ten years.
“It’s a complicated bill because energy is complicated,” Tepper said. But some of the main things it would do include:
- Eliminating or reducing several charges on utility bills
- Making it easier to bring new sources of energy online
- Changing how some energy programs and infrastructure are financed
- Reforming the competitive supply industry
- Allowing the state to invest in new nuclear technology
The legislation remains before the joint committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. A different version of the bill put forward by some legislative members — which would have scaled-back the state’s climate targets, among other changes — advanced out of the committee this fall. The House, though, ultimately declined to take it up for a vote in 2025.
Other priorities: Increasing supply and cutting red tape
Though still broadly under the umbrella of “energy affordability,” Tepper said her other big priorities for 2026 include getting more energy into New England and implementing the state’s new siting and permitting reforms to build infrastructure faster.
Energy prices can be volatile in New England in part because the region relies on expensive sources of power, like oil, when demand is highest. Increasing supply, Tepper said, will help lower monthly bills.
“We’re spending a lot of time working with our regional partners to get more energy supply into the region, and we’re exploring every opportunity to do regional procurements and build cost-effective transmission,” she said.
One large transmission project from Avangrid, known as the New England Clean Energy Connect, is undergoing the final phases of testing and should be fully operational in early 2026, according to developer. The 145-mile transmission line will provide a big jolt of relatively low-cost — and low-carbon — electricity to Massachusetts from a hydroelectric facility in Canada.
“This is a dramatic change in the way that we’re going to be receiving our electricity,” Tepper said. “And it’s a good change because it’s lower cost and cleaner.”
Tepper said Massachusetts will also continue to work on finding ways to tap into onshore wind resources in Northern Maine, build as much solar power as possible and, to the dismay of some climate activists, look at options for expanding natural gas supplies.
“We’re gonna take a look at any new proposal that comes our way and judge it on whether it’s a good deal for Massachusetts ratepayers,” she said. “We’re focusing on bringing down cost and stabilizing prices, and making sure we have a diverse energy portfolio.”
Tepper said she’s also focused on finalizing and implementing the siting and permitting reforms the state’s been working on for the last year. As required by the 2024 climate law, state officials have rewritten the rules for how energy infrastructure gets approved, with an eye toward standardizing and expediting the process.
“It’s a whole series of regulations and changes that are going make the process go much faster, and also allow communities more input into the process,” Tepper said.
The regulations should be finalized by March and will go into effect in July, she said.
Final thoughts: Blame infrastructure costs for your high bills
Tepper said she hears a lot of people opining about why energy costs have skyrocketed in Massachusetts over the last year and a half. The answer is complicated, she said, but one of the biggest reasons is that utilities are spending a lot of money on infrastructure.
Massachusetts has an old electric grid that needs repairs and upgrades, along with new substations, transformers and power lines to accommodate projected demand growth. On the gas side, our aging underground pipeline system is notoriously leaky, and utilities have been incentivized to fix the problem. Instead of repairing pipes, however, they’ve often opted for more costly replacements, leaving ratepayers to pick up the bill.
Beyond the growth of infrastructure spending, inflation and tariffs are driving up the actual cost of that infrastructure even more, Tepper said. For some Massachusetts residents, the delivery portion of their bill — the charges associated with getting gas or electricity to their home — can exceed the cost of the actual energy they consume.
“When people talk to you about what is causing your bill to rise, what you should think about is that it’s infrastructure,” she said. “It’s not just clean energy or [Mass Save].”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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