Electric supply choice in Massachusetts: Basic Service, town aggregation and suppliers

Three ways to buy supply, one set of wires

In the areas served by the investor-owned utilities, Eversource, National Grid and Unitil (Fitchburg Gas & Electric Light), the utility always delivers the power and sends the bill, and the electricity itself (the supply) can come from one of three places:

1. Basic Service from the utility, the default for anyone who does nothing. Its fixed residential price changes every six months and follows what the utility pays for power on the wholesale market (Mass.gov, Basic Service information and rates).
2. Municipal aggregation, where a city or town buys supply for all its residents under a plan approved by the department. Residents on Basic Service are enrolled automatically and may opt out (state law on municipal aggregation).
3. An individual contract with a licensed competitive supplier, signed by the household itself.

The official place to compare offers is Energy Switch Massachusetts, run by the Department of Public Utilities. It shows supplier offers next to your utility's Basic Service price.

The rest of the state is outside this market. Towns with a municipal light plant own their local utility, and state law exempts those plants from retail competition unless they choose to open it (state law on municipal light plants). After Eversource and National Grid, the next two utilities by residential customers are town-owned, City of Taunton and Town of Reading. Among Massachusetts utilities with 10,000 or more full-service residential customers, the lowest 2025 average was a municipal one: Town of Hudson, at 13.14¢ per kWh¹. If your bill comes from a municipal light plant, the town plant sells you both supply and delivery.

The largest shopping share in the country, explained

In 2025, 1,805,438 Massachusetts residential customers bought supply from a competitive supplier or an aggregation program, 63.6% of all residential customers in the state, against 15.1% nationally (EIA-861). Only 15¹ states and DC reached 1% or more.

Massachusetts63.6%

Ohio58.1%

Texas55.5%

California42.1%

New Hampshire40.8%

Rhode Island25.9%

Illinois22.5%

Pennsylvania22.4%

Connecticut16.3%

United States15.1%

District of Columbia10.3%

New York7.3%

Maine7.1%

New Jersey6.1%

Delaware5.6%

Maryland4.8%

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Residential customers of energy-only suppliers and community choice aggregators (plus Texas retail electric providers) as a share of all residential customers (EIA-861 2025, EIA customer counting: bundled + energy-only + Texas retail provider accounts). Includes municipal or community aggregation where it is reported as energy-only.

Show the numbers

State	Customers with a supplier
Massachusetts	63.6%
Ohio	58.1%
Texas	55.5%
California	42.1%
New Hampshire	40.8%
Rhode Island	25.9%
Illinois	22.5%
Pennsylvania	22.4%
Connecticut	16.3%
United States	15.1%
District of Columbia	10.3%
New York	7.3%
Maine	7.1%
New Jersey	6.1%
Delaware	5.6%
Maryland	4.8%

On the two large utilities' wires the share is higher still, because the statewide figure includes municipal light plant towns, where residents cannot shop. In 2025, 75.9% of Eversource's residential delivery customers and 64.4% of National Grid's bought supply elsewhere. Eversource had 306,795 residential customers left on Basic Service out of 1,274,856 on its lines; National Grid had 438,150 out of 1,231,865¹.

EIA's form does not separate town aggregation from individual contracts: both are reported as energy-only customers of a supplier. The distinction matters, because the two arrangements are priced and regulated differently. An aggregation price is negotiated by the town for its enrolled residents; an individual contract is whatever the household itself signed.

The neighbouring choice states show how unusual the Massachusetts figure is: in 2025 the share was 40.8% in New Hampshire, 25.9% in Rhode Island and 16.3%¹ in Connecticut.

Basic Service, supplier and delivery averages in 2025

EIA-861 reports, for every utility and supplier, what customers paid in total divided by the kWh they used (average revenue per kWh). That is an average over a year, not a price anyone was offered, and in Massachusetts it splits into three groups of customers who pay for different things:

• Full-service customers paid 24.03¢ per kWh in 2025 for supply and delivery together. This group combines Basic Service customers of the investor-owned utilities with every customer of a municipal light plant.
• Supplier and aggregation customers paid 15.22¢ per kWh to their supplier, for supply only.
• The same shopping customers paid their utility 19.49¢ per kWh¹ for delivery only.

Utility full-service customers (default service): supply and delivery24.03¢

Competitive suppliers and CCAs: supply only15.22¢

Utility delivery for customers of a supplier: delivery only19.49¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh by service part, EIA-861 2025. Supply-only and delivery-only averages each cover only part of a bill and different groups of customers; adding them gives only a rough estimate of what a shopping customer paid in total.

Show the numbers

Part of the market	¢/kWh
Utility full-service customers (default service): supply and delivery	24.03¢
Competitive suppliers and CCAs: supply only	15.22¢
Utility delivery for customers of a supplier: delivery only	19.49¢

The supply-only and delivery-only averages are not two halves of one bill. They come from different filers (suppliers on one side, the three utilities on the other) and are averaged over different sets of kWh. Placing the supply-only average against the full-service average also says nothing about who saved money, because the full-service group includes the town-owned utilities.

Splitting the full-service group by ownership makes the point. In 2025, residential customers of the investor-owned utilities on Basic Service paid 28.80¢ per kWh, while the 258,300 residential customers of public power utilities (the municipal light plants) paid 16.88¢ per kWh¹.

Investor-owned utilities28.80¢

Public power (municipal, districts, state)16.88¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Bundled (full-service) residential revenue divided by kWh, summed over every utility of each type (EIA-861 2025). Small utilities filing the short form report no residential split and are not included.

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Type	¢/kWh	Residential customers
Investor-owned utilities	28.80¢	750,817
Public power (municipal, districts, state)	16.88¢	258,300

Eversource and National Grid report very different numbers

The two utilities deliver to 45.5% and 43.9% of the state's residential customers. Their 2025 EIA averages for full-service residential customers were far apart: 21.49¢ per kWh at Eversource and 33.66¢ per kWh¹ at National Grid.

Eversource's full-service average sits close to its delivery-only average of 20.06¢ per kWh¹, so the two cannot be subtracted to estimate what its Basic Service supply cost; they describe different customers with different usage. Your bill shows the actual Basic Service and delivery charges for your account.

Delivery is the part no supplier choice changes, and it rose. Delivery-only revenue per kWh from residential customers reached 20.06¢ per kWh at Eversource in 2025, against 16.27¢ per kWh in 2024 (a change of +23.3%), and 18.73¢ per kWh at National Grid, against 16.30¢ per kWh³ (+14.9%¹).

National Grid (MA)18.73¢

Eversource (MA)20.06¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Delivery charges only: what the utility billed customers who buy supply elsewhere, divided by their kWh. Not comparable with bundled prices.

Show the numbers

Utility	delivery-only revenue per kWh (residential)
National Grid (MA)	18.73¢
Eversource (MA)	20.06¢

What the Attorney General found about individual contracts

The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office publishes regular analyses of the individual residential supply market. Its March 2026 report found that households on individual supplier contracts paid more over the past decade than they would have paid on Basic Service, and that low-income customers paid more for competitive supply than other customers (Attorney General's Office, Competitive Electric Supply). Those reports cover individual contracts, not municipal aggregation programs.

Comparing an offer with Basic Service

The comparison that matters is supply against supply, for the same months:

1. Find your Basic Service price. It appears on your bill and on Energy Switch Massachusetts. For Eversource and National Grid residential customers the six-month periods run February to July and August to January (Department of Public Utilities order on Basic Service schedules). Because the Basic Service price changes twice a year, compare a fixed contract price with both six-month prices it will overlap, not with one.
2. Check whether your town has an aggregation program. If it does and you had not signed with a supplier, you were enrolled automatically when the program started; the supplier named on your bill shows it. You can opt out to Basic Service or to an individual contract.
3. Read the contract terms. Note the price per kWh, the contract length, any monthly fee, the early termination fee and what happens at the end of the term.
4. Leave delivery out of it. Delivery charges are the same whoever supplies you.

Massachusetts prices behind the choice

Over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026), Massachusetts homes paid an average of 30.39¢ per kWh across all utilities and suppliers, 3rd highest among the states and DC and 68.5% above the US average. The change against the previous 12 months was +0.8%, 3rd lowest⁴ in the country. The long rise came earlier: the annual average went from 14.59¢ per kWh in 2010 to 30.41¢ per kWh in 2025, an increase of 108.4%, 2nd highest⁵ among the states.

MassachusettsUnited States

Source: EIA, Historical state data, annual sales, revenue and customers; EIA, Historical state data, monthly sales and revenue 1990-2009. Average revenue per kWh (all charges, nominal dollars), each calendar year: 2010 onward EIA-861 final annual data, 2001–2009 the sum of the monthly survey.

Show the numbers

Period	Massachusetts (¢/kWh)	United States (¢/kWh)
2001	12.47¢	8.58¢
2002	10.93¢	8.44¢
2003	11.60¢	8.72¢
2004	11.75¢	8.95¢
2005	13.44¢	9.45¢
2006	16.60¢	10.40¢
2007	16.23¢	10.65¢
2008	17.56¢	11.26¢
2009	16.87¢	11.51¢
2010	14.59¢	11.54¢
2011	14.67¢	11.72¢
2012	14.91¢	11.88¢
2013	15.83¢	12.13¢
2014	17.39¢	12.52¢
2015	19.83¢	12.65¢
2016	19.00¢	12.55¢
2017	20.06¢	12.89¢
2018	21.61¢	12.87¢
2019	21.92¢	13.01¢
2020	21.97¢	13.15¢
2021	22.89¢	13.66¢
2022	25.97¢	15.04¢
2023	29.61¢	16.00¢
2024	29.35¢	16.48¢
2025	30.41¢	17.23¢

Homes here use relatively little electricity, 596 kWh a month in 2025 (8th lowest), and the average monthly bill was $181.08 (5th highest⁷); high prices, not high use, drive Massachusetts bills. The Massachusetts state page covers prices, utilities and bills in more detail, and regulated vs deregulated electricity explains how the two systems differ. Households struggling with bills can apply for fuel assistance through LIHEAP, funded at $163.3 million⁸ in Massachusetts for FY2026.