An already long, tumultuous process on Beacon Hill to reign in the state’s soaring energy costs has now landed in the Senate, where the chamber’s energy chair is eyeing major changes to proposals approved by the House earlier this year.

Sen. Michael Barrett, a Democrat who leads the energy committee, told CommonWealth Beacon in an interview that the roughly $9 billion in ratepayer savings the House legislation projects to achieve over the course of a decade is “the number to meet or beat.”

“I don’t think my colleagues are going to want to offer less,” he said.

One thing, though, appears clear: Those savings will not be coming from significant cuts to the Mass Save program, if Barrett has his way.

Mass Save, the state’s energy efficiency program, “passes the test,” Barrett said in his most extensive comments about the legislative deliberations since the House advanced the measure.

The program, a collaboration among the utilities with state oversight, funds home weatherization projects and heat pump installations at low or no cost to reduce energy usage and utility bills over the long term. Because it’s paid for through a fee tacked onto ratepayers’ monthly bills, its budget has become a target for legislators and policymakers looking to alleviate rising energy costs.

The House voted in February to cut Mass Save by $1 billion, one of the most controversial components of the sprawling energy affordability legislative package originally proposed by Gov. Maura Healey last May. The Department of Public Utilities already reduced the program’s proposed budget by $500 million last year.

Even though Mass Save is a relatively small part of the typical utility bill, unlike complex supply and distribution costs, it is one of the few pieces of energy costs that Beacon Hill has directly in its control amid a clamoring from residents for help.

Barrett’s support for the program – and rebuke of the House push to cut what leaders in that chamber say has become a bloated initiative at great cost to ratepayers – signals an early flash point in what will eventually become a negotiation between the two chambers.

“We’re hearing a deluge of support for energy efficiency spending,” Barrett said. “I can tell you that we are doing a lot of due diligence on the question. We want to make sure that the dollars are being spent well and saving people more money. I can’t find any serious waste, and I’ve been looking hard.”