Section 92C. (a) There shall be a Grid Modernization Advisory Council to consist of the commissioner of energy resources, or a designee, who shall serve as chair; the attorney general, or a designee; the executive director of the Massachusetts clean energy technology center, or a designee; 13 members to be appointed by the governor, 1 of whom shall be a representative of middle-income and low-income residential consumers, 1 of whom shall be a representative from a local agency administering the low-income weatherization assistance program, 1 of whom shall be a representative of the environmental advocacy community, 1 of whom shall be a representative of an environmental justice community organization, 1 of whom shall be a representative of the transmission scale renewable energy industry with expertise in projects of greater than 20 megawatts, 1 of whom shall be a representative of the distributed generation scale renewable energy industry with expertise in projects of less than 5 megawatts, 1 of whom shall be a representative of the energy storage industry, 1 of whom shall be a representative of the electric vehicle industry, 1 of whom shall be a representative of the building electrification industry, 1 of whom shall be a representative of municipal or regional interests, 1 of whom shall have technical and engineering expertise in interconnecting clean energy, 1 of whom shall be a representative of businesses, including large commercial and industrial end-use customers and 1 member from each electric company operating in the commonwealth who shall serve as non-voting members. Members shall serve for terms of 5 years and may be reappointed.

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(b) The council shall seek to encourage least-cost investments in the electric distribution systems, alternatives to the investments or alternative approaches to financing investments that will facilitate the achievement of the statewide greenhouse gas emission limits and sublimits under chapter 21N and increase transparency and stakeholder engagement in the grid planning process. The council shall review and provide recommendations on electric-sector modernization plans developed pursuant to subsection (a) of section 92B that maximize net customer benefits and demonstrate cost-effective investments in the distribution grid, including investments to enable interconnection of, and communication with, distributed energy resources and transmission-scale renewable energy resources, facilitate electrification of buildings, transportation and other sectors, improve grid reliability and resiliency, minimize or mitigate impacts on ratepayers throughout the commonwealth and reduce impacts on and provide benefits to low-income ratepayers throughout the commonwealth. The council shall cooperate and coordinate with the clean energy transmission working group.

(c) The council shall annually submit to the department a proposal regarding the level of funding required for the retention of expert consultants and reasonable administrative costs. The proposal shall be approved by the department either as submitted or as modified by the department. The department shall allocate funds sufficient for these purposes from the natural gas and electric efficiency funding authorized under section 19 of chapter 25; provided, however, that such allocation shall not exceed 1 per cent of such funding on an annual basis. The consultants used under this section shall be experts in energy distribution and transmission, energy efficiency or energy finance, and shall be independent.