Massachusetts deregulated its electricity market in 1998, which means your business has the right to choose who supplies your electricity — or to stay with whatever rate your local utility offers by default. Most commercial and industrial businesses that understand the market choose to exercise that right. Those that don’t often overpay.
This guide walks through how to evaluate your options, what to look for in a competitive supplier, and what the process actually involves.
Step 1: Understand What You’re Actually Choosing
When you choose a competitive electricity supplier in Massachusetts, you are replacing the supply (generation) component of your electric bill — not your utility relationship. Eversource, National Grid, or Unitil still delivers your electricity, maintains the wires, and responds to outages. You continue to pay them for delivery, transmission, and distribution charges. What changes is who you buy the power from and at what price.
The supply component typically represents 40–60% of a commercial electricity bill. That’s the portion a competitive supplier can affect.
Step 2: Know Your Load Profile
Suppliers price commercial electricity based on your consumption pattern — how much you use, when you use it, and how consistent your demand is. Before getting quotes, pull 12 months of billing history from your utility account. Key metrics suppliers will want:
- Annual kWh consumption
- Peak monthly demand (in kW, from your demand charge)
- Load factor: how evenly you consume relative to your peak
Businesses with high, consistent consumption and a good load factor (above 60%) tend to get the most competitive rates. Manufacturing, multi-family, and retail operations typically fit this profile.
Step 3: Decide on Product Type — Fixed or Index
A fixed-rate contract locks in your supply price for the full term. You know exactly what you’ll pay per kWh, regardless of what happens in the wholesale market. This is the right choice for most C&I buyers who value cost certainty and want to protect against winter price spikes in New England.
An index-rate contract follows the wholesale market — often ISO-NE’s real-time or day-ahead price plus a margin. Index rates can save money when markets are falling, but expose you to significant upside price risk. In New England, where winter gas prices can cause wholesale electricity spikes, index products carry real volatility risk for most commercial buyers.
Step 4: Work with a Licensed Energy Broker
The most efficient way to shop the Massachusetts commercial electricity market is through a licensed energy broker. Brokers have relationships with multiple suppliers and can obtain competitive quotes simultaneously. Their compensation is typically embedded in the supply rate, meaning their services cost you nothing out of pocket — but you should confirm this with your broker.
Step 5: Evaluate Quotes on the Right Dimensions
- All-in supply rate (cents per kWh) for the contract term
- Contract term options (12, 24, or 36 months)
- Passthrough clauses: does the contract allow the supplier to pass through unanticipated costs (ancillary services, capacity, REC)?
- Early termination terms and fees
- Renewal notice requirements and automatic renewal language
Step 6: Verify the Supplier Is Licensed
Massachusetts DPU maintains a public list of licensed competitive electricity suppliers at mass.gov/dpu. Verify any supplier you’re considering has an active license in good standing before signing a contract.
Step 7: Understand the Switching Process
Switching to a competitive supplier in Massachusetts typically takes one to two billing cycles. You sign an enrollment agreement with the supplier, they notify your utility, and your supply charges start appearing from the new supplier on subsequent bills. There is no interruption to electricity delivery.
Contact Gridwealth Electric: Gridwealth Electric serves commercial and industrial customers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island through licensed energy brokers. Contact us at tford@gridwealth.com or connect with your energy broker.
