On December 23rd,2025 the Massachusetts DEP announced they had pushed the implementation date for the State’s Clean Heat Standard back to 2028. The Standard was slated to start this year and the cited reason for the delay is so the DEP can “evaluate new fuel and emissions data, analyze affordability trends, monitor heat pump adoption and collect additional information.” The delay of the Standard’s implementation until after the upcoming election season has caught attention in Massachusetts - critics read the delay and mention of “affordability trends” as an acknowledgment that already surging utility costs will necessarily go up under the plan, and an unwillingness of elected officials to have that discussion ahead of elections.
