Healey Promises 25 Percent Winter Electric Bill Cut, 100,000 New Homes

BOSTON -- January 22, 2026, Gov. Maura Healey pledged a 25 percent cut to electric bills and a 10 percent cut to gas bills for February and March, while outlining a sweeping affordability agenda at the January 22 State of the Commonwealth address before the joint convention in Boston. Healey announced that Massachusetts has already produced 100,000 homes built, permitted, or under construction in three years and vowed to beat the state's benchmark of 220,000 new units by 2035, with plans to convert state-owned properties and downtown office space into housing and to offer downloadable ADU designs with subsidized financing within weeks. On energy, she said a new hydroelectric line from Canada would cover 20 percent of the state's electricity needs and save roughly $50 million, and she called on the Legislature to pass an energy affordability bill projected to save ratepayers $13 billion. She also announced elimination of insurance prior-authorization requirements for all medical care starting this year, a ban on medical debt credit reporting, and protection of 270,000 families from premium spikes. Healey delivered pointed criticism of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement and federal program cuts, telling legislators, "I was a prosecutor and attorney general, none of this makes us safer."