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Electric companies in Massachusetts

A guide to Massachusetts utility companies, electricity suppliers and aggregations—average rates, service areas, contact info and your residential electricity options.

MA city view
Topics covered
  • 1.
    Eversource
  • 2.
    National Grid
  • 3.
    Unitil
  • 4.
    Municipal Light Plants
  • 5.
    Community choice and aggregation
  • 6.
    Electric supplier marketplace
  • 7.
    Perch helps you find a better deal
  • 8.
    Utilities using renewable energy
  • 9.
    Support renewables through community solar

About Eversource

Founded in 1966 as Northeast Utilities, Eversource is Massachusetts' oldest and second largest utility company. It's also the largest in New England, serving New Hampshire and Connecticut as well. After its 2012 merger with Boston-based NSTAR, the company, which had already owned Western Massachusetts Electricity Company (WMECo) became Eversource Energy with 4M electricity and natural gas customers throughout its three service states. In Massachusetts, Eversource has Eastern and Western divisions, together serving over 1.3 million electricity customers across 140 communities. It delivers electricity to all customers on a monopoly basis and is required by state law to provide a so-called "basic service" supply to customers who have not chosen their own choice of supply.

Last updated March, 2022

Eversource contact information

Eversource Customer Service Phone Numbers

Purpose
Contact Number
Power Outage800-662-7764
Customer Help, East1-888-633-3797
Customer Help, West1-800-880-2433
Business Service866-554-6025
Hearing Impaired800-346-9994

Contact by U.S. Mail


Bill Payments : Eversource, P.O. Box 56003, Boston, MA 02205-6003

All Other Written Inquiries : Eversource, PO Box 330, Manchester, NH 03105-0330

Eversource Social Media Links

Eversource East electricity supply rates in MA

The cost of Eversource East's recent fixed basic service supply rates across all the areas they serve.


Date
Basic Service Rate
Jan'22 - Jun'2215.764 ¢/kWh
Jul'21- Dec'2110.753 ¢/kWh
Jan'21 - Jun'2111.795 ¢/kWh

Eversource West electricity supply rates in MA

The cost of Eversource West's recent fixed basic service supply rates across all the areas they serve.


Date
Basic Service Rate
Jan'22 - Jun'2213.731 ¢/kWh
Jul'21- Dec'219.468 ¢/kWh
Jan'21 - Jun'2110.708 ¢/kWh

Eversource service territory in MA

In Massachusetts, Eversource's electric service territory includes 140 towns and covers 3,192 square miles.

National Grid

National Grid was founded in 1990 in the U.K, after existing transmission activities of the Central Electricity Generating Board—covering England and Wales—were transferred to the newly created National Grid Company plc. Starting in 2000, National Grid made its expansion into the U.S., focusing on both electricity and gas delivery to the Northeast. Today, National Grid, including its Nantucket Electric subsidiary, is the largest electric utility in Massachusetts and serves electricity to over 3.3M customers in nearly 900 cities throughout New England and New York.

Last updated March, 2022

National Grid contact information

National Grid Customer Service Phone Numbers

Purpose
Contact Number
Power Outage1-800-465-1212
Customer Service1-800-322-3223

*For the fastest service, call the number in your account settings.

Contact by U.S. Mail


National Grid P.O. Box 371396, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7396

National Grid Social Media Links

National Grid electricity supply rates in MA

The cost of National Grid's recent fixed basic service supply rates across all the areas they serve.


Date
Basic Service Rate
Nov'21 - Apr'2214.821 ¢/kWh
May'21- Oct'219.707 ¢/kWh
Nov'20 - Apr'2112.388 ¢/kWh

National Grid service territory in MA

In Massachusetts, National Grid's service territory includes 168 communities.

Unitil

Unitil Corporation is one of the smaller New England utility companies, serving customers throughout Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. It was founded in 1984 and headquartered in New Hampshire. Unitil delivers electricity to 100,000 customers and gas to 80,000.

Last updated March, 2022

Unitil contact information

Unitil Customer Service Phone Numbers

Purpose
Contact Number
Power Outage1-888-301-7700
Customer Service1-888-301-7700

Contact by U.S. Mail


6 Liberty Lane West, Hampton, NH 03842-1720

Unitil Social Media Links

Unitil electricity supply rates in MA

The cost of Unitil's recent fixed basic service supply rates across all the areas they serve.


Date
Basic Service Rate
Dec'21 - May'2215.298 ¢/kWh
Jun'21- Nov'219.554 ¢/kWh
Dec'20 - May'2111.239 ¢/kWh

Unitil service territory in MA

Unitil delivers electricity to seven Massachusetts territories.
  • Ashby

  • Fitchburg

  • Leominster

  • Lunenburg

  • Shirley

  • Townsend

  • West Townsend

Municipally–owned electric companies (Municipal Light Plants)

Depending on where you live, you may not get service from any of MA's three main investor-owned utility companies. Instead, your city or town has a municipally–owned electric company, or Municipal Light Plant (MLP).

Read More

Municipal aggregation or Community Choice Electricity

Even if you don't live in an MLP community, municipalities in Eversource, National Grid and Unitil territories can seek approval from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities to offer an aggregation service—often referred to as Community Choice Electricity—to its residents and/or businesses.

Read more about Community Choice Electricity

Electric supply companies and the supplier marketplace

As long as you are not served by an MLP, you can shop for supply outside of your electric utility and possibly find better value in the electricity supplier marketplace

Because Massachusetts has a deregulated energy industry, most residents aren't forced to use their utility's default basic service offering, or, where applicable, community choice energy option. As a renter or homeowner, you have the option to buy electricity directly from a supplier—and not through Eversource, National Grid or Unitil. Deregulation allowed third-party energy suppliers to compete with MA's utility companies and aggregations and vie for your business by selling you electricity at better rates, terms, or both. For example, you can shop the electric supplier marketplace for cheaper rates or even upgrade to cleaner energy (like choosing a supplier whose energy is backed by 100% renewable sources instead of fossil fuels). But it can be a lot of work to find a better deal and to keep getting better deals after the end of your initial contract.
No matter where you get your electricity from, your utility company still handles delivery, maintenance and billing—because they still own the transmission lines and the meter at your home. Electricity suppliers work directly with utilities. That's why your electricity bill may show a “supply” charge (from the electricity supplier) and a “delivery” charge (what the utility itself is charging you).
Taking advantage of MA's electricity supplier marketplace is a good way to find savings or switch to cleaner energy. But it can be time-consuming and confusing.
You need to shop the market: Supply rates go up and down and need your regular attention.
You need to become a contract expert: Suppliers may hike prices after an introductory period, or put you on a variable rate.
You need to switch suppliers regularly: Waiting on hold. Hustling with customer service. You don't have time for that.

Perch helps you navigate the electricity supplier options to find you a great deal

Let Perch handle everything for you.

  • We analyze your electric bill to understand your current costs.

  • We continuously monitor the supply marketplace to find you a lower rate than similar options in your area, based on your desired energy preference (remaining on a mixed energy plan typically leads to greater savings while going 100% green energy has a greater environmental impact).

  • You won't notice any interruptions to your service—our automated matching technology seamlessly works behind the scenes.

And we don't stop after we find you a low-cost plan. We'll continue to monitor the market and automatically switch you if a cheaper plan becomes available that matches your energy preference.

Massachusetts utilities and aggregations using renewable energy

In Massachusetts, it's required that all electricity companies get a certain percentage of their energy from renewable sources. This is thanks to the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), established in 1997 to ensure utilities and electricity suppliers are investing in sources like solar, wind and hydro as more environmentally friendly power generation for their customers—and also a more recent Clean Peak Standard. Massachusetts has continuously updated its RPS and Clean Peak percentages, recently totaling 51% (2022), and potential new legislation could accelerate that percentage even more in future years.

Read More

How Perch helps you support renewable energy in Massachusetts

Support cleaner energy generation and fight climate change by joining a community solar project

  • Perch will help you subscribe to a solar farm in your area (subject to eligibility and availability).

  • While you won't be receiving solar electricity directly to your home, you'll be supporting the addition of more solar power to the overall energy mix on the grid—lessening the reliance on dirty, harmful fossil fuels.

  • In exchange for supporting operations of that solar farm, you'll receive a discount on your electricity bill in the form of credits.

  • You're guaranteed to see annual savings on your electricity cost thanks to the credits.

Get matched to a local solar farm and save on your electricity costs.