Healey calls for urgent customer relief as energy bills soar
Courtesy of Colin A. Young/State House News Service
Gov. Maura Healey
With Bay Staters facing skyrocketing energy bills, Gov. Maura Healey demanded Sunday that a state regulatory agency and utility companies provide urgent relief to customers.
In a letter to Department of Public Utilities Chair Jamie Van Nostrand, the governor did not call out specific companies but said she is "deeply troubled by the recent spike in natural gas utility rates and the financial strain this unexpected rate hike is having on Massachusetts residents."
"People did not plan for these extraordinary utility rate increases, and they can only do so much to stretch a budget," Healey wrote in the letter circulated by her office Monday. "The DPU must act immediately to provide rate relief to customers in this heating season."
She added, "It is also imperative that energy consumers know their rights, including that they cannot have their utility service shut off during the winter months."
Healey's missive came days after Sen. Jacob Oliveira led 80 lawmakers in writing a letter to Van Nostrand, in which they urged regulators to review recently-approved rate increases and hold Eversource accountable for energy bill spikes. Lawmakers highlighted one Eversource customer whose January bill reached $449.91, with nearly $300 attributed to supply costs.
Residents living in affordable housing developments, as well as seniors and retirees, are voicing their concerns over "exorbitant" energy costs, said lawmakers, who also criticized rate increases for National Grid customers.
"Many are now facing an astonishing 27% increase for the coming heating season," lawmakers wrote. "Eversource has attempted to blame these spikes on colder temperatures, increased usage, and rate adjustments implemented in November 2024. Yet many customers who have kept their thermostats at consistent levels are still seeing drastic hikes, raising serious concerns about the fairness and necessity of these increases."
DPU in the fall approved rate hikes of 25-30% for Eversource and 11-13% for National Grid, The Boston Globe reported.
DPU spokesperson Alanna Kelly said the agency is reviewing the letters from Healey and lawmakers and plans to respond "soon."
"We have listened to ratepayers, and we will be working directly with the gas companies over the coming days to pursue revisions to their delivery rates to provide relief as soon as possible for their customers," Kelly said in a statement. "Over the longer term, the DPU continues to make progress in various dockets centered on energy affordability that will help low- and moderate-income households in paying their energy bills."
DPU says winter gas rates are based on utilities' projected supply and delivery costs, including rising expenses tied to the Mass Save energy efficiency program, which now offers incentives for heat pump conversions. Regulators are currently speaking with gas companies about how to adjust delivery charges to protect customers from additional price volatility, DPU said.
Eversource spokesperson William Hinkle called "energy affordability" a top priority for the utility.
"[W]e are always willing to work with our regulators, elected officials and other key stakeholders on solutions to make energy more affordable for our customers as the commonwealth pursues its unprecedented energy transition," Hinkle said. "With colder temperatures recently, customers have been using more natural gas to heat their homes and businesses to stay warm, and any increase customers have seen in the bills they've received for the last month compared to the previous month has been primarily driven by that increased usage (rates did not significantly change between November and January)."
Even if customers don't adjust their thermostats, Hinkle noted that more energy is needed to maintain temperatures in colder weather.
"Household heating costs this winter are projected to be higher than last winter for all heating fuel sources, except heating oil, due to a combination of higher retail prices and expected consumption," the Department of Energy Resources wrote in its forecast of household heating costs for the 2024-25 winter season. "Compared to last year, the cost of heating for residential customers is expected to be 24% higher for homes heating with natural gas, 6% higher for electricity, 1% higher for propane, and 11% lower for homes heating with heating oil."
Healey tasked DPU with finding ways to reduce future price volatility for natural gas customers, make rate changes "more transparent and predictable," and prioritize and accelerate efforts to tackle energy affordability. The governor said gas utilities must better promote existing resources and programs for customers to save money, including Mass Save.
"Winter isn't over," Healey wrote. "The DPU and the gas utilities must act now to provide relief from these high rates and make the changes necessary to ensure that this does not happen again next winter."
In January 2024, when Bay Staters were similarly up in arms over eye-popping energy bills, DPU launched an official "inquiry" on the high costs and potential improvements to current energy affordability programs that could reduce that burden on residential ratepayers and to "determine if additional resources are needed to aid residential ratepayers to lower the percentage of their income used to pay electricity and heating bills."
That DPU investigation is still ongoing, though agency officials said a year ago they were contemplating things like varying levels of discounts depending upon income or placing a cap on the percentage of income spent on bills from energy utilities. Regulators recently sought feedback on an energy affordability initiative to offer tiered discount rates, DPU noted.
Meanwhile, lawmakers called on DPU to conduct a review of Eversource's pricing structure, with the aim of protecting customers from "further exploitation."
"With winter in full swing, the urgency of this issue cannot be overstated," lawmakers wrote. "We call on the DPU to take these concerns seriously and implement measures that prioritize affordability and fairness for all residents."
Explaining increased energy usage this winter, Hinkle said January 2025 was about 15% colder than December 2024, and it was 10% colder than January 2024. Eversource has scheduled two webinars for customers this week to help them learn more about their bills and assistance programs, Hinkle said.
"We know that the high cost of energy is challenging for our customers, and we want to help them plan ahead, manage their energy use and overall cost as best as we can," Hinkle said. "We highly encourage customers who may need help paying their bill to take advantage of the many assistance programs available and we are here to work with all customers one-on-one to connect them with payment options and bill assistance programs - including our budget billing option that smooths out seasonal spikes by setting a predictable bill amount each month based on our customer's annual energy use."
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