The measure would add paperwork for some residents while leaving the rules unchanged for others, as legislators question how the state targets efficiency benefits.

A technician uses a hose to blow insulation into an attic. (Bruce Bisping/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Massachusetts has made meaningful strides in recent years to get its robust energy-efficiency incentives into the hands of lower-income households who need them most.

Now, a provision tucked into a pending energy bill could undermine that progress, environmental justice advocates say, by making certain benefits more difficult to access — but only for moderate-income households in some of the state’s most disadvantaged communities. 

Under current rules, low-income and moderate-income households, including owners of rental properties with up to four units, anywhere in the state can get free weatherization from the efficiency program Mass Save without doing any paperwork to confirm their earnings. Weatherization can cut annual energy costs by hundreds of dollars — enough to pay for a medical bill or new shoes for the kids. So the program’s planners decided that cutting down on administrative barriers would make it easier to get services to residents who have paid into the program for years but historically taken less advantage of the benefits. 

To that end, Mass Save went a step further last year, creating 21 ​ “ designated equity communities” — places with low average earnings and high renter populations — where anybody can get free weatherization without having to verify their income. That includes owners of rental properties with five or more units, which were previously ineligible.

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