CITIZENS ENERGY HAS changed with the times.

Once known for giving heating oil away, the nonprofit company founded by Joe Kennedy II – and now managed by his son, Joe III – has turned to leveraging solar power to drive down electricity bills for low-income consumers. 

A project the company developed on a former Superfund site in Ashland was recently named one of the five grand prize winners in the so-called Sunny competition, a US Department of Energy program that recognizes projects that promote community solar.

Community solar is equal opportunity solar. Most solar projects are fairly one dimensional. A homeowner puts a solar array on the roof and saves money over time by using less power from the grid and occasionally selling excess electricity into the grid. Solar developers operate similarly; they build a solar farm and sell the electricity into the grid.

These sorts of projects favor those who own solar-friendly properties or homes and can come up with the upfront investment to install solar panels. But what about people that don’t have the upfront investment or the solar-friendly properties? What about people that rent?

Community solar is solar financed by a group of individuals who then share the benefits. Citizens Energy has taken the concept a step farther, distributing the benefits to people who have no financial skin in the game but meet income requirements.

“It’s like every person gets a panel or two from our solar farm,” said Hannah Goetz, a spokeswoman for Citizens Energy.

As the Citizens Energy website says: “No Cost. No Fees. No installations. No obligations. No credit checks.”

Customers participating in the program must either receive a residential assistance discount rate from their utility or have a service address in an environmental justice zone, according to the Citizens Energy website.

The six-megawatt solar farm in Ashland produces electricity that is fed into the grid, generating either a direct payment from the local utility or a bill credit. Nearly half of the money goes to the company that operates and maintains the solar farm. The other half goes, in the form of bill credits, to the participants in the community solar program. The bill credits, split equally among the participants, are used to reduce the size of their electricity bills – but the participants are required to return half of the money they received in credits to Citizens Energy.

Once all the payments are trued up, roughly half of the revenues from the solar farm go to the operator of the solar farm, a quarter go to Citizens Energy, and a quarter go to the community participants. It adds up to about a $400-a-year bill reduction for the community participants.

According to Goetz, the savings are even greater on Cape Cod, where Vineyard Wind, the nation’s first industrial scale wind farm, is covering the Citizens Energy share of the credits, allowing all of the savings to flow through to participants. The Vineyard Wind subsidy is being provided as part of a resiliency and affordability fund.

Citizens Energy currently operates seven solar farms – six in Massachusetts, including the one in Ashland, and one in New York. The company has about 3,000 customers, about 650 of them on Cape Cod.

BRUCE MOHL

NEW STORIES FROM COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE

New policy much the same as old policy: Gov. Maura Healey posted a new public records policy on her office’s website on Monday. Her new policy promises greater transparency, but its wording doesn’t sound all that different from what her predecessors have done.

– Under current law (via court decisions), the governor’s office is exempt from the public records law. Many past governors have said they would voluntarily release information but could always claim the exemption if they chose not to. Healey in December promised not to claim exemption from the public records law and to support legislation limiting exemptions claimed by the Legislature and judiciary. Her new policy isn’t clear on the exemption front while aides say she will review any legislation opening access to judicial and legislative records. Read more.

Shelters and school meals: Gov. Maura Healey filed a spending bill with the Legislature seeking additional funding for shelters and school meals. Healey is asking for less shelter money than the Baker administration did before leaving office, which House Speaker Ron Mariano took as a good sign. “This present administration has given us some numbers and reduced the amount necessary by about $30 million. That’s a significant change in the way we want to do business,” he said. Read more.

More information needed: Despite a briefing last week to the T board, the governor says she needs more information to get to the bottom of what’s wrong with the MBTA’s contract with the Chinese company manufacturing Red and Orange Line trains. “At this point we’re still in the early stages of identifying what’s happening with respect to existing contracts. We’ll make whatever moves are necessary to ensure that we’re getting the delivery of what we need as soon as possible.” Read more.

OPINION

Baker’s education legacy: James Peyser, the former secretary of education, summarizes the education legacy of former governor Charlie Baker and urges Gov. Maura Healey to continue the work in several areas. Read more.

Advice for the governor: Susan Lusi and John Schneider of Mass Insight Education and Research say the Healey administration should insist on measuring equity in college-in-high-school education programs. Read more.

STORIES FROM ELSEWHERE AROUND THE WEB

BEACON HILL

House, Senate, and Healey administration budget officials reach consensus on a revenue estimate for the fiscal year starting in July, with a $1 billion project of revenue for the millionaire tax. (Boston Herald)

Gov. Maura Healey has inherited a big problem from the Baker administration: A legal obligation to house homeless families and House leadership that is not in a hurry to help resolve. (Boston Globe) 

Berkshire County lawmakers outline their priorities for the new session. (Berkshire Eagle)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS  

A Boston-based real estate investment firm has scooped up dozens of homes in New Bedford after purchasing the tax debt owners owed to the city and then foreclosing on properties worth many times more than the amount owed. (New Bedford Light) CommonWealth wrote last year about one of the New Bedford homeowners who lost their property to the firm. 

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu filed legislation to remake the Boston Planning and Developing Agency, a cornerstone of her 2021 campaign. (Boston Herald)

The Boston City Council is scrambling to approve a new “participatory budgeting” process by a February 10 deadline it has to make any changes to plans for the new office developed by the Wu administration. (Boston Herald) CommonWealth offered this deep dive last month into what the citizen-led budgeting process is all about. 

Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia ousts the chair of the city’s Historical Commission because of her behavior towards him at a January meeting. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Northampton Mayor Gina Louise-Sciarra says she will not sign an ordinance limiting the number of pot shops in town at 12. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

A cast of political heavy hitters gather in Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office to celebrate the launch of a hotline providing information about abortion access in Massachusetts. (GBH)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

The US plans to end the public health emergency for COVID in May. (New York Times)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Long-time fixer Steve Tocco is stepping down as CEO of the lobbying firm ML Strategies, with his role to be divided between former state senator Steve Baddour, who will become executive vice president and director of operations in ML’s Boston office, while Alexander Hecht will assume the same title in the firm’s DC office. (Boston Globe) 

EDUCATION

Classes in Woburn schools are canceled a second day as teachers remain out on strike. (WBUR)

Advocates for Palestinian rights say there is a “Palestinian exception” to free speech norms on college campuses. (Boston Globe) 

ARTS/CULTURE

Messages found in a bottle on Cape Cod may contain messages from German prisoners of war. (Cape Cod Times)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

A homeless mother is facing charges after her 2-year-old child dies from drug exposure in Peabody. (Salem News)

Police in Milford arrest a Marlborough man who may be responsible for eight overdoses over 10 days. (MetroWest Daily News)