Healey plans to spend $180M to help reduce electric, gas bills for February and March

Gov. Maura Healey plans to spend $180 million as part of a plan to temporarily reduce electricity bills by 25%, and gas bills by 10%, for residential utility customers for the months of February and March, her administration announced.

Healey is set to detail the proposal in her State of the Commonwealth address on Thursday night. The plan could shore up her administration’s approach to rising energy costs amid regular attacks from three Republicans running to challenge her in the November election.

Healey previously called on state regulators to find ways to lower bills this winter, but said in a statement Thursday that “relief is on the way.”

“We also know that long-term help is needed. That’s why we’re going to keep working every day to bring more energy into our state, oppose rate hikes and get charges off of bills,” Healey said.

Ratepayers will still have to pay back some of the savings they see in February and March during off-peak months.

A spokesperson for Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said the $180 million the Healey administration plans to tap will cover an estimated 15% reduction in electricity bills.

Utility companies will then delay collecting another 10% of electric bills in February and March, with plans to recover those payments from April through December, the spokesperson said.

Utility companies will also plan to defer an estimated 10% of gas bill payments during February and March. But the companies plan to recover those payments from May through October, according to Tepper's spokesperson.

Liberty Gas, which primarily covers customers in southeastern Massachusetts, will not recover deferred gas bill payments, Tepper's spokesperson said.

Tepper said families cannot support “big” winter energy bills this year.

“Our administration is working to help families make ends meet with $180 million in support, while continuing our advocacy for major reforms,” she said in a statement.

The governor previously offered direct relief to ratepayers last year when her administration shelled out $125 million to provide electricity customers of Eversource, National Grid and Unitil with $50 credits on their April bills.

Healey is scheduled to deliver her speech at 7 p.m. from the Massachusetts House Chamber.

A spokesperson for Healey said the governor also will unveil “several new initiatives to lower costs” for people and businesses and talk about how she is continuing to stand up to “the damage that President Trump is doing every day.”

In her speech, Healey could also offer more details about her budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, including how her administration might respond to a series of federal funding cuts and policy changes.

The State of the Commonwealth address comes just days after Healey announced her reelection campaign in a video that took aim at Trump over rising costs of living and federal immigration crackdowns in Massachusetts.

The trio of Republicans running to challenge Healey this fall — Mike Kennealy, Brian Shortsleeve and Michael Minogue — have all criticized the governor for what they say are policies that have made Massachusetts unaffordable.

In a statement earlier this week, Shortsleeve, a former MBTA official under Gov. Charlie Baker, said Healey has made Massachusetts the “most expensive state in the nation.”

“Thanks to her misguided policies, families are paying more for housing, energy, and taxes,” Shortsleeve said.