Massachusetts · Competitive supply market
Commercial electricity in Massachusetts
Massachusetts commercial accounts may contract supply with a licensed competitive supplier while the utility keeps delivery. Municipal aggregation is common and changes the default position, so it must be read off the account.
What Massachusetts businesses pay for electricity
Average commercial electricity price in Massachusetts
24.17¢ per kWh
12 months to August 2026 · EIA, preliminary
- vs US average (13.87¢)+74%above the national figure
- vs previous 12 months+7.6%from 22.47¢
- Final 2025 (EIA-861)23.10¢4th highest of 51 markets
- Average commercial customer4,776 kWha month, about 1,103 at the 2025 average
- Since 2020+44%US +26% over the same years
Show the numbers
| Period | Massachusetts | United States |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 14.53¢ | 10.19¢ |
| 2011 | 14.33¢ | 10.24¢ |
| 2012 | 13.84¢ | 10.09¢ |
| 2013 | 14.23¢ | 10.26¢ |
| 2014 | 14.68¢ | 10.74¢ |
| 2015 | 15.79¢ | 10.64¢ |
| 2016 | 15.60¢ | 10.43¢ |
| 2017 | 15.94¢ | 10.66¢ |
| 2018 | 17.17¢ | 10.67¢ |
| 2019 | 16.80¢ | 10.68¢ |
| 2020 | 16.03¢ | 10.59¢ |
| 2021 | 16.99¢ | 11.22¢ |
| 2022 | 18.67¢ | 12.41¢ |
| 2023 | 19.62¢ | 12.59¢ |
| 2024 | 20.90¢ | 12.75¢ |
| 2025 | 23.10¢ | 13.37¢ |
| 12 months to Aug 2026 (preliminary) | 24.17¢ | 13.87¢ |
Where the Massachusetts price goes
Where businesses buy energy from a competitive supplier, EIA reports the supplier's revenue and the utility's delivery revenue separately. In Massachusetts in 2025, 48% of the average commercial price was delivery — the part that does not change when you change supplier.
12.38¢ energy 11.40¢ delivery 84% of Massachusetts's commercial kWh is sold this way
This is the average revenue per kWh from every commercial customer in Massachusetts, from a corner shop to a hospital: energy, delivery, demand and other charges billed, divided by kWh sold. The average customer uses more than a typical small business, because a few very large customers pull the mean up. It is dated context for reading a bill — not a quote, not an available offer, and not what any one business pays.
What a typical building pays in Massachusetts
The same federal survey of commercial buildings behind the cost estimator, run for a typical-sized building of eight common kinds and priced at Massachusetts's average commercial price for the 12 months to August 2026. Typical size is the median floor area of the surveyed buildings of that kind, and the middle half is the range between the 25th and 75th percentile of them.
| Building | Typical size | Typical bill | Middle half | Survey basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office building | 5,000 sq ft | $1,100 | $640 to $1,600 | 245 in the Northeast |
| Medical, dental or outpatient clinic | 5,500 sq ft | $1,500 | $910 to $2,400 | 257 nationwide |
| Retail store or showroom | 6,500 sq ft | $1,300 | $730 to $2,000 | 338 nationwide |
| Grocery or convenience store | 2,400 sq ft | $2,600 | $1,800 to $3,800 | 91 nationwide |
| Sit-down restaurant or cafeteria | 3,850 sq ft | $3,200 | $1,800 to $4,500 | 132 nationwide |
| Warehouse or distribution centre | 6,700 sq ft | $450 | $280 to $810 | 108 in the Northeast |
| Hotel, motel or inn | 12,000 sq ft | $3,600 | $2,300 to $5,300 | 304 nationwide |
| Gym, fitness or recreation facility | 8,300 sq ft | $1,500 | $1,200 to $3,000 | 148 nationwide |
A screening estimate, not a quote. The price is an average across every commercial customer in Massachusetts, scaled for building size, and the buildings are whole buildings from EIA's 2018 survey, so a suite inside a larger building, or one with unusual hours or equipment, can differ a lot. Estimate your own building in Massachusetts, or check a real bill.
What utilities billed commercial customers in Massachusetts
For each utility, EIA records how many commercial customers it had in 2025 and the average revenue per kWh it billed them. The 10 largest of 20 Massachusetts utilities with 500 or more commercial customers are shown.
| Utility | Type | Bundled customers | Bundled price per kWh | Delivery-only customers | Delivery-only price per kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSTAR Electric Company | Investor-owned | 33,547 | 17.69¢ | 173,406 | 11.78¢ |
| Massachusetts Electric Co | Investor-owned | 47,026 | 25.66¢ | 117,441 | 10.77¢ |
| City of Taunton | Municipal | 4,709 | 18.74¢ | 0 | — |
| Fitchburg Gas & Elec Light Co | Investor-owned | 521 | 31.11¢ | 4,093 | 15.03¢ |
| Town of Middleborough | Municipal | 3,229 | 14.89¢ | 0 | — |
| City of Chicopee | Municipal | 2,806 | 17.70¢ | 0 | — |
| City of Holyoke | Municipal | 2,777 | 14.66¢ | 0 | — |
| Town of Braintree | Municipal | 2,716 | 17.31¢ | 0 | — |
| City of Peabody | Municipal | 2,690 | 19.36¢ | 0 | — |
| City of Norwood | Municipal | 2,146 | 19.54¢ | 0 | — |
Together the 10 shown serve about 93% of Massachusetts’s 426,378 commercial customers, and all 20 serve about 97%. All Massachusetts commercial customers together averaged 23.10¢ per kWh in 2025.
Bundled is the price paid by commercial customers who buy their energy and delivery from the utility, so it is an all-in price. Delivery-only is what the utility billed customers who buy their energy from a competitive supplier, so it is the delivery charge alone and cannot be compared with a bundled price. Each figure averages every commercial customer of that utility and service type, from a corner shop to a campus, so a utility with larger customers averages a lower price per kWh. It is dated context, not a quote and not an offer, and the utility that serves an address is named on its bill.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, 2025 final data. Utilities across the country · every utility as a CSV.
Massachusetts commercial accounts may contract supply with a licensed competitive supplier while the utility keeps delivery. The local utility continues to own delivery, metering and outage response under regulated tariffs that no supplier can change. Eligibility is confirmed from the account and its utility territory, never from a ZIP code.
Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities market structure; this site's market registry · 2026-10-31
Competitive supply market. Municipal aggregation status must be captured from the bill.
What a Massachusetts commercial account can actually do
Eligible commercial accounts in Massachusetts can award a supply contract to a licensed supplier. The local utility continues to deliver the power, own the meter and restore outages, and continues to charge for that under a regulated tariff that no supplier can change.
That means two separate pieces of work, and the second is the one most buyers never get done:
- The supply decision. Run a real, time-boxed competition among qualified suppliers on identical verified facts, then hold the contract to what was awarded.
- The regulated half. Rate schedule fit, demand charges, ratchet exposure, power factor and billing accuracy. No supplier earns anything here, which is precisely why no supplier raises it.
Where Massachusetts sits
Every US market on one view, coloured by what an account can actually do there. Massachusetts is highlighted, and every other tile is a link.
- 14 you can choose — businesses can pick their supplier
- 6 some can choose — by size, cap or program
- 31 utility only — other charges can still be fixed
Number on each tile: average commercial electricity price in cents per kWh, 12 months to August 2026 (EIA, preliminary).
Before we can answer anything specific
We verify from the account, not from the address alone:
- The utility territory actually serving the service address
- The account identifier and customer class
- Current supply arrangement, including any aggregation and its termination status
- Contract expiry date and whether the decision window is open
- 12 months of consumption and, where metered, peak demand
Supplier comparison is not open in Massachusetts yet. The free bill check shows how much of your bill a supplier could even touch and what is worth a look today, which is the same first step whichever way you go.