The city of Quincy has won a $4 million settlement with energy technology giant Honeywell over allegations the company failed to comply with state law governing energy savings contracts.
Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Honeywell International and Honeywell Building Solutions have agreed to pay $4 million to the commonwealth.
Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch says he is pleased with the outcome and says the city will continue to invest in energy-saving programs.
“But we’ll be doing it more smartly,” Kock said. “We’ll be taking part of the settlement money and putting it back in the buildings to continue to make some progress, not only in energy savings, but also in driving our energy costs down through how we deal with energy going forward.”
Under state law, it is required that contractors guarantee that the government will achieve a certain amount of “energy savings,” or else the contractor will pay the amount of any shortfall.
Tom Hamilton, general manager of Honeywell Building Solutions, said the company settled as a matter of expediency and cost-efficiency.
“We believe that the Massachusetts statute does not prohibit the use of water meters in an energy program, although we had a disagreement with the Attorney General’s Office on this point, resulting in this settlement,” Hamilton said in a statement. “We feel strongly that the energy efficiency improvements and new water meters are delivering energy and operational savings to the city, as well as a significant boost in revenue. The guaranteed savings would have been met if the city had proceeded with the maintenance portion of the contract, but we agreed to settle with the attorney general to avoid spending more time and legal expenses on the matter.”
