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.
- 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 Outage | 800-662-7764 |
| Customer Help, East | 1-888-633-3797 |
| Customer Help, West | 1-800-880-2433 |
| Business Service | 866-554-6025 |
| Hearing Impaired | 800-346-9994 |
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'22 | 15.764 ¢/kWh |
| Jul'21- Dec'21 | 10.753 ¢/kWh |
| Jan'21 - Jun'21 | 11.795 ¢/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'22 | 13.731 ¢/kWh |
| Jul'21- Dec'21 | 9.468 ¢/kWh |
| Jan'21 - Jun'21 | 10.708 ¢/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 Outage | 1-800-465-1212 |
| Customer Service | 1-800-322-3223 |
*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'22 | 14.821 ¢/kWh |
| May'21- Oct'21 | 9.707 ¢/kWh |
| Nov'20 - Apr'21 | 12.388 ¢/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 Outage | 1-888-301-7700 |
| Customer Service | 1-888-301-7700 |
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'22 | 15.298 ¢/kWh |
| Jun'21- Nov'21 | 9.554 ¢/kWh |
| Dec'20 - May'21 | 11.239 ¢/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).
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.
Electric supply companies and the 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.
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.