MassDPU orders electric, gas, and water companies to cut rates to reflect federal tax windfall

[DonViejo]

Updated 11:20 AM; Posted Feb 3, 10:37 AM

By Mary C. Serreze
Special to The Republican

BOSTON -- The state's gas, electric, and water companies have been ordered to submit plans to lower their customer billing charges because of a new federal law that slashed the corporate tax rate.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities on Friday directed a slew of distribution companies to submit proposals by May 1 to revise their "cost of service" calculation and pass the tax savings on to consumers, retroactive to Jan. 1.

President Donald J. Trump on Dec. 22 signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent. In Massachusetts, taxes are a factor used by utility regulators to calculate "just and reasonable" rates.

Attorney General Maura Healey in December urged the DPU to open an investigation, and Eversource and National Grid quickly agreed to cut their distribution rates.

more
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/02/massdpu_orders_utilities_to_cu.html

[sharedvalues]

1. Love you, Massachusetts.

Let's get Charlie Baker out of there and get back to the values of Kennedy, Warren, Markey, and the rest of the educated people that live here.

[Deb]

2. "retroactive to Jan. 1"

Delightful. Blue States just keep coming through, don't they?

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Hope this is a contagious idea. n/t

[seaglass]

4. Wow! I just paid a 487.00 electric bill for ONE MONTH on Friday, still upset about it. I

knew Maura Healey was working on this but did not know it would be retroactive! Love her!

[dalton99a]

5. Excellent idea!

[KelleyKramer]

6. This is great! I hope they do this everywhere