MASS SAVE® 2025 ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT

Accelerating program access for underserved customers

Expanding access to affordable energy solutions is a central tenet of the Mass Save® Sponsors’ commitment to equity. We are steadfast in promoting a fair and equitable distribution of program benefits and burdens across all customers, with particular emphasis on communities that have historically faced economic and environmental challenges. Our goal is to ensure that households and small businesses across Massachusetts can access affordable, cost-saving energy efficiency and electrification services.

Over the 2025–2027 plan term, more than $1.7 billion has been designated for energy efficiency and electrification improvements for low-income customers and underserved communities. This investment includes support for moderate-income households, renters, small businesses, and customers who use languages other than English. In total, these efforts, which are delivered through a variety of programs, partners, and initiatives, are expected to deliver more than $4.1 billion in equity-related benefits.

During 2025, we continued to see exceptionally high demand for services among the low-income sector. (Low-income customers are defined as those earning up to 60% of state median income and living in one- to four-family homes, and those earning up to 60% of area median income and living in multifamily buildings with five or more units.) In response, the Mass Save Sponsors prioritized investments that save customers money on their energy bills, with a goal of serving as many customers as possible. Electrification efforts were focused on households that heated with delivered fuels and electric resistance, where the cost, comfort, and emissions benefits are significant.

To ensure responsible stewardship of program resources and alignment with long-term decarbonization goals, heat pump installations in low-income homes heated with gas were limited to emergency no-heat situations or cases where a gas system had reached end of life. Further support for new fossil fuel heating systems was restricted to emergency or end-of-life scenarios, with decisions guided by each home’s readiness for electrification.

The Mass Save Sponsors are coordinating closely with DOER to leverage Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate funds. This funding will include approximately $72M for heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and electrical panel upgrades to further support cost-efficient electrification projects for income-eligible customers.

The Mass Save Sponsors have implemented strategic initiatives to increase access, simplify processes, and build participation among moderate-income customers and renters, with a particular focus on Designated Equity Communities (DECs). To further support program access, renters and moderate-income households in DECs can now receive end-to-end project support for heat pumps as well as electrical panel upgrades and pre-weatherization barrier repairs.

To drive participation in these new offerings, we launched targeted marketing campaigns, including community-specific engagements in DECs. These efforts are designed to effectively reach the intended audience and raise awareness about available services and incentives.

The Mass Save Sponsors also launched new turnkey services in 2025 to assist customers in making electric upgrades. As part of these services, lead vendors and home performance contractors assist customers with work that may be needed prior to a heat pump upgrade as well as with the heat pump upgrade itself. These additional services simplify the process for customers and make the adoption of heat pumps more accessible. These turnkey services, as well as no-cost heat pumps, are available for income-qualifying customers and rental buildings in DECs with at least 50% rental units.

Electrification of communities is further supported through the launch of the Municipal Energy Manager Grant. National Grid and Eversource awarded a total of 24 grants that support 63 communities. This grant will allow communities to pursue clean energy goals, with a focus on decarbonizing their school systems. A coordinated effort with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council will develop a Municipal Energy Manager training curriculum. National Grid and Eversource are currently working with the Municipal Energy Managers to support their projects.

More broadly, the Mass Save Sponsors collaborated with a variety of organizations that support decarbonization work in K-12 schools across Massachusetts to simplify the process of working across organizations to support our schools. The Mass Save Sponsors also conducted numerous Comprehensive Building Assessments for schools to provide guidance on how best to decarbonize their buildings and achieve greater affordability and benefits.

Furthermore, we maintain a strong commitment to support energy efficiency education across the commonwealth through a wide range of initiatives. In 2025, this included multiple training courses for technical high schools, dozens of energy efficiency workshops for educators, and a three-day Energy Education Teachers Conference.

The Community First Partnership, which leverages local knowledge and trusted relationships of municipalities and community-based organizations to increase participation in Mass Save energy efficiency programs, continues to be a cornerstone for effectively reaching customers and priority populations. This initiative seeks to target renters, landlords, income-eligible households, language-isolated households, and small businesses in participating communities to ensure the benefits of energy efficiency are more equitably distributed, particularly among those who have been historically underserved. Outreach activities reached an estimated 3 million Massachusetts residents, generating over 10,000 leads. 2025 Community First Partner contributions helped support over 45,000 Home Energy Assessments, over 14,000 weatherization projects, and over 21,000 HVAC projects, many of which included heat pumps.

In 2025, many Mass Save Community First Partners targeted populations who prefer a language other than English. Multilingual outreach efforts involved languages such as Arabic, Cape Verdean Creole, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Albanian, Greek, Khmer, Cantonese, Mandarin, Bangla, Russian, Italian, Amharic, Nepali, and French. These efforts included a Mass Save workshop in English and Mandarin hosted by Quincy Asian Resources, Inc (QARI); an Energy Efficiency Day in Everett with community partner La Comunidad; tabling at an Arab-American Heritage Event in Medford; and a presentation at an adult English as a second language class at Lynn English High School.

The Mass Save® Community Education Grant remains an impactful channel for successfully reaching priority populations and equitably delivering affordable customer benefits. A total of 26 Mass Save Community Education Grants were awarded in 2025; 10 of which support DECs. The grant application is now being offered on a rolling basis, with four selection periods a year. This will increase the funding that Sponsors can put back into the community.

Making it easier for small business renters, those with leased properties, and landlords to work together on long-term energy-saving investments is essential. In 2025, the Mass Save Sponsors made improvements to broaden accessibility and participation in prescriptive weatherization projects for small businesses by adjusting eligibility requirements. To help small businesses access weatherization incentives, the Sponsors invested time and effort to build their network of qualified weatherization vendors and provide trainings to upskill the vendor community to help deliver high-quality weatherization projects. We also increased incentives for select, charitable non-profit organizations and houses of worship, as well as small business renters.

Strengthening and expanding the workforce

We understand that a strong workforce is essential to the growth and success of our programs. Over the last decade, the energy efficiency workforce in Massachusetts has grown by more than 86% and now directly supports approximately 76,000 well-paying green-collar jobs. Alongside this rapid growth is a continued need to cultivate a workforce that is stable, trained, and reflective of the communities we aim to serve. As required by state law, $24 million in funds were transferred from the Mass Save® programs to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) in 2025 to support workforce needs.

The Mass Save Sponsors collaborated with MassCEC on multiple initiatives in 2025. These included participating in several stakeholder sessions and trade-specific pathway-design meetings facilitated by MassCEC, which engaged lead vendors and community partners to gather on-the-ground insights. A key outcome was the co-design of a scalable Contractor Development Pathway to support underrepresented contractors. The Pathway focuses on localized, equity-centered business support, clearer navigation of Mass Save contractor and vendor requirements, and stronger connections to workforce training and hiring pipelines.

Complementary advancements in supplier engagement and workforce equity were also achieved. The Mass Save Sponsors supported two cohorts of interns as part of Mass Save Clean Energy Pathways, which provides weatherization and HVAC training. A total of 25 internships were completed, which resulted in 21 full-time job offers.

The Sponsors also provide education programs for technical high schools through Mass Save Green STEP. High school curriculums are supplemented with specialized training workshops related to science, technology, engineering and math and highlight job opportunities in the sustainability and green building industries. In 2025, Lynn Tech collaborated with Mass Save Sponsor, National Grid, to give students further knowledge and skills in energy efficiency, sustainability, and green building careers. This training familiarized participants with the latest green building practices, codes, and technologies.

As part of the effort to broaden our pool of qualified suppliers, we held both virtual and in-person Supplier Engagement Summits, fostering direct connections with lead vendors and suppliers, including minority- and women-owned business enterprises. The summits focused on empowering support organizations by providing relevant information to help community-based suppliers onboard and work within the Mass Save programs. The Mass Save Sponsors expanded the pool of support organization contacts and connections by 30%.

To further increase affordability and customer benefits, we’re continuing to expand and strengthen the Heat Pump Installer Network, an ecosystem of qualified heat pump installation contractors, manufacturers, and distributors established during the previous plan term. Building a thriving workforce is key to reaching our goal of installing heat pumps in 87,000 units, including more than 21,000 low- and moderate-income homes and more than 13,000 rental units. We are working closely with lead vendors on technical standards and best practices for heat pump system design and installation to ensure optimal system performance and further enhance customer satisfaction.

The Heat Pump Leaders Network—which is a second, higher tier of the Heat Pump Installers Network—was established in 2025 and currently has 70 qualified contractors enrolled. These contractors, who are committed to following leading business practices and providing enhanced services such as engaging with customers in languages other than English, are prominently listed on MassSave.com.

Further ensuring excellence in program delivery and contractor success, extensive training opportunities are provided to contractors. These include no-cost virtual trainings available 24/7 through our Mass Save Heating & Cooling Learning Center. Recent enhancements have been made to the learning center courses, and additional resources and trainings are now available. Contractors are further supported with webinars, monthly office hours, open forums for discussion, in-person meetings, monthly newsletters, and more.

We continue to recognize the importance of training a workforce to meet the challenges of electrification efforts in the commercial and industrial space. Toward that end, the Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Partnership supports the deployment of energy-efficient technology and tools to the industrial, commercial, and institutional sectors.

In 2025, our efforts drove meaningful progress in strengthening and supporting a workforce that mirrors the diversity of the communities and customers we serve.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

The Global Warming Solutions Act (as amended) recognizes the importance of Mass Save® programs in achieving statewide goals of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to at least 50% below 1990 levels by 2030, with a goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 — all while maintaining affordability.

To accomplish this objective, we aim to reduce GHG emissions by focusing on weatherizing and electrifying residential and commercial buildings.

Making electrification the default solution for all residential customers whenever possible is a key to achieving our goals. Alongside this work, Mass Save programs continue to phase out support and incentives for fossil fuel use as required by the 2022 Climate Act.

Recognizing that education is a key component of a successful electrification effort, we made virtual Decarbonization Consultations available to customers starting in 2024. More than 1,500 consultations have since been completed, and we continue to provide ongoing assistance. Decarbonization Consultations provide customers with guidance about the benefits of new heating systems like heat pumps, address technical questions about heating and cooling systems, and help customers make informed decisions about how to make their homes more energy efficient. This service is now also available in Portuguese and Spanish. Additional languages are supported via a translation service. In 2025, we also created a Quote Comparison Tool that allows customers who have participated in a Decarbonization Consultation to submit up to five heat pump installation quotes for analysis to help them make informed decisions.

As part of our commitment to affordability, we continue to actively pursue cost-control measures for the residential heat pump rebate program, which is an open market initiative. Through more competitive pricing and greater economies of scale, the Sponsors have implemented a declining incentive structure, which allows heat pump offers to be expanded, benefiting more customers within the available budget. Heat pump incentives are now also available for a wider range of scenarios, such as updating an existing heat pump or central air conditioning system.

The Residential New Homes & Renovations program was redesigned to prioritize all-electric construction as the default option for new homes built in the commonwealth, a major step in further reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions. Key for this transition was requiring all-electric equipment in single-family homes and electric space heating equipment in multifamily buildings. Over the last year, the number of new all-electric single-family homes participating in the program increased by 40%, from 1,200 in 2024 to 1,700 in 2025. This increase demonstrates clear momentum toward electrifying new homes.

The Sponsors made notable progress in 2025 toward helping our large commercial and industrial customers decarbonize their buildings and operations as well. The key is taking a comprehensive, strategic, portfolio-wide approach to optimizing energy use in building systems. We launched two new technical assistance offerings in 2025 to facilitate these improvements: Comprehensive Building Assessments and Portfolio Prioritization Plans. For each, the Mass Save Sponsors standardized the offerings and established rubrics for program support, as well as published MassSave.com pages to educate customers and business partners on these new services.

In its fourth annual iteration, we again publicly recognized Mass Save® Climate Leaders for their efforts to curb energy use, reduce GHG emissions, and guide the commonwealth to a net-zero future. At an October ceremony at the Massachusetts State House, the Sponsors honored 18 Mass Save Climate Leaders from a range of industries and sectors, including municipalities, grocery stores, education, and health care. Collectively, this cohort avoided CO2 emissions equivalent to the energy use of more than 7,400 homes for one year, or more than 61.6 million pounds of coal burned, while establishing Massachusetts as a leader in energy efficiency and affordable energy solutions that also provide customer benefits.

Beyond all of these established efforts to reduce GHG emissions, the Sponsors of Mass Save continue to collaborate with other affordability and clean energy programs across the commonwealth to ensure customers are learning about all financial opportunities for their project. These efforts equip customers with information and guidance about the full range of financial assistance, services, and incentive opportunities available. They also provide customers with a better understanding of how to combine offers to maximize benefits and savings as we all work toward an affordable and attainable clean energy future.