The Massachusetts Senate is planning to pass legislation this week that would require more frequent scrutiny of electric utility rates and eliminate no-bid contracts and “sweetheart deals” associated with long-term renewable energy contracts.

The legislation, unveiled at a State House press conference hosted by Senate President Therese Murray, would also recognize hydroelectric power as a form of renewable energy, a largely symbolic move that falls short of a business group’s call for using cheap hydro power to meet the state’s renewable energy goals.

Murray said passage of the legislation, a hodgepodge of provisions taken from other bills, was essential if the state wants to rein in the price of electricity in Massachusetts, which has some of the highest rates in the country. Murray was joined by Attorney General Martha Coakley, who supports several updates to the 2008 Green Communities Act that were included in the bill.

One of the bill’s provisions would require gas and electric companies to file rate cases with the state Department of Public Utilities every three years. The provision would also bar the DPU from approving a settlement of a rate case more than once every six years.

Sen. Benjamin Downing said the provision is needed to provide greater scrutiny of electric utility rates. “For too long it seems like we’ve been on autopilot in approving rates,” Downing said.

Another provision would revamp the way utilities negotiate long-term renewable energy contracts. The current process, approved as part of the Green Communities Act, encourages utilities to negotiate long-term contracts with renewable energy suppliers for up to 3 percent of the power needs of the utility’s customers. The contracts can be negotiated on a no-bid basis and the utility receives a payment of 4 percent of the contract value for doing the deal. Coakley called the 4 percent payment to the utility a “sweetheart deal.”

Cape Wind has sold most of its power output under the old system. Coakley declined to criticize the Cape Wind contract with National Grid and one proposed with NStar, but said the situation has changed. “That was under the old bill and I supported that under the old bill,” she said.

Under the proposed legislation, utilities would be required to enter into long-term contracts for an additional 4 percent of their customers’ power needs. The utilities would also be required to go through a bidding process in awarding the contracts and be entitled to a payment equal to 1 percent of the contract’s value instead of the current 4 percent.

The proposed legislation would also increase the amount of power utilities would have to buy from entities generating their own electricity, removing a barrier to such projects.

Another provision in the bill would count hydroelectric power toward the Commonwealth’s renewable and alternative energy generation goals but would not let utilities use hydro power to meet their mandated renewable energy targets. The distinction is important. The Commonwealth’s goals are policy-oriented, while the utility renewable energy targets are part of a process that funnels subsidies from utility ratepayers to renewable energy suppliers to encourage their growth.

The Senate’s proposed legislation falls short of a recommendation put forth by the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership that would have allowed utilities to count hydro toward their renewable energy goals, thus allowing the state to attain its clean energy goals more quickly and cheaply. Solar and wind energy companies opposed the measure because it would have most likely decreased subsidies for their projects.

Downing called the hydro proposal a first step toward recognizing the low emissions of hydro power, but he said the Senate wasn’t willing to go further because it didn’t want to end up subsidizing large-scale Canadian hydro power projects. “We’re trying to recognize that hydro is going to play a role going forward,” he said.

Robert Rio of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which has also been supportive of allowing utilities to use hydro to meet their renewable energy targets, called the Senate proposal a good start. “Acknowledging its green potential and acknowledging it has some role in meeting our clear energy goals is good,” Rio said.

Officials from the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership and renewable energy groups could not be reached for comment.