Romney wants utilities to spend more on energy conservation

In its last major energy policy push, Governor Mitt Romney's administration today asked state utility regulators to investigate requiring Massachusetts utilities pay for millions of dollars in energy-efficiency measures as an alternative to building new power plants. The proposal by Romney economic adviser Ranch Kimball calls for utilities such as NStar and National Grid by 2013 to have paid for electric conservation or demand-reduction measures equal to 1.5 percent of the electricity they sell to "basic service" customers. That would be in addition to the $125 million annually state utilities already spend on conservation efforts.

In recent months Romney has also called for new measures to promote renewable energy and price-based incentives for homeowners and businesses to conserve electricity during peak demand periods. The plan now faces several months of review by the Department of Telecommunications and Energy.
(By Peter J. Howe, Globe staff)