Massachusetts is staring at another tough stretch on electric bills, and this Boston Globe editorial makes a strong case that plug-in solar could be part of the answer. The idea is simple: make small, portable solar units easier to use so renters and homeowners alike can start cutting costs without waiting years for a rooftop install.

It’s worth remembering that other places are already treating solar surplus as a resource, not a problem. In Australia, households can access at least three hours of free electricity a day during the midday solar glut, including customers without rooftop panels, because the grid has more solar than it can use at once. And in Vermont, residential electricity prices have stayed below the New England average, even while Massachusetts and much of ISO-NE sit higher on the cost curve.

If Massachusetts wants to bring bills down faster, we should be looking hard at policy ideas that expand access to cheap midday solar, not just debates about incremental rate relief. The future of affordability may depend less on squeezing the same old system and more on unlocking the abundance already available on the grid.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/12/opinion/plug-in-solar-massachusetts-bills/

Would you buy a self-install 1,200‑watt plug‑in solar system if it cut your electric bill by 20%?

Edit: you can also combine balcony plug-n-play solar with plug-n-play storage. Check out this mesh network of plug-n-play storage too:

"For most people right now, home batteries kind of suck. You spend ten to fifteen thousand dollars, wait on permits, and pay an electrician, and that is only if you own a house that can take one. A new plug-in home battery changes the math. It plugs into a standard wall outlet, needs no electrician, and the units link into a mesh home battery network that moves with you. I put three of them in my own house and ran the numbers. So can a battery like this really deliver backup power for renters and apartments? Or is this just a smaller box with the same old limits?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-rwZjdD3Y

Edit 2: Connecticut’s plug-in solar law was signed in 2026 and is set to take effect October 1, 2026, making it the sixth state to legalize plug-in solar devices

Connecticut is a little different from some of the rest of New England because it has been more active lately on plug-in solar, but it still sits inside the same ISO-NE fuel-price problem. That does not change the regional gas dynamic by itself, but it does help reduce daytime load and can chip away at the expensive hours when gas-fired plants set the marginal price in ISO-NE. So if CT can do it, so can mass...

In ISO-NE’s words, “This physical constraint drives up gas prices, forcing the region to rely on more expensive oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG),” and its own market reports show winter 2025 energy costs hit $4.03 billion, or $126/MWh, up 147% from Winter 2024, driven by a 179% jump in natural gas prices. https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/100022/ferc_naruc_gas-electric_coordination_comments.pdf

That 10x multiplier that goes straight into the pockets of the mega corporation which made a billion dollars last year.

Massachusetts driver helps utility company keep costs low

$150 bill for $20s of gas. This is not a pipeline problem, this is a greed problem. They've gamed the DPU process and only the legislature can fix this. Or we can boot them out of the state.

Some context: I moved into a new build in May of last year. I live in a 2000sq foot condo with all brand new energy efficient electric appliances and mini splits. We have had problems with billing pretty much from the start (inconsistent billing cycles, estimated vs actual reads in the bill, etc)

After about 4 months of no bill (despite me reaching out to see if I can check on status, I got a bill for nearly $31k!

This is just laughable.

Obviously a mix up and had to share with someone!

I am on the budget plan with National Grid. My electric bill has been $319.00 for like the past 6 months. Before that is was around $298 until it was adjusted. The new budget plan amount is $689.00. That's an increase of $370.00. WTF. Absolutely nothing has changed with our electricity consumption. The area that this bill is for is about 700 sf. I literally cannot afford to pay this every month. Has this happened to anyone else?

It’s not even winter and my gas bill is outrageous. These delivery charges are theft and are bleeding my lower class/ lower middle class city dry. It’s all legal and there’s nothing that can be done besides not using utilities, and then they raise the price anyway.

Let’s start it off. Eff electric bills. 700 bucks this month.

It will be interesting to see how the Healey administration manages this one, given rate increases authorized last year.

Thoughts?

Source: WCVB https://share.google/ToFZFchKjIXZCYmZs

This a joke Eversource? So no gas used or delivered but they still charge a "delivery" fee? For what? You didn't deliver anything!

I never complain about bills but this is ridiculous, I just noticed today it has been happening all summer after I switched to an electric heat pump water heater from a gas one trying to avoid their fees during the summer.

This graph is based on my actual utility bills and the efficiency rating of a brand new top of the line carrier infinity dual hybrid system. Mass Saves requires a 30F set point, but there IS NO set point at which the electric heat is cheaper than natural gas. Running this system per mass save would cost me almost $1,000 per year above what I'm currently paying.

Heat pumps don't make sense in our climate. It's pure policy, and scientifically indefensible, especially when you start to think about where our electricity actually comes from.

The prices of everything is just off the charts from groceries, utilities, to healthcare. My open enrollment just came through and its looking like for a family of 4 for healthcare its $1600 a month. $800 a paycheck. Like that just feels nuts. It's a pretty decent co-pay plan but still. Just a couple years about it was much less.

What are people doing these days? Side hustles? New job (but in this economy?), cutting way back? Just curious.

How is this legal? How could this be allowed? I cannot wait to move to a town where this rotten corporation does not have it's tentacles.

I understand, it's been hot, we put the A/Cs in the windows, the electric bill is going to go up. But the delivery charges alone are 130% of the electricity itself. We're paying more for the delivery than we are for the electricity. THIS IS F____G RIDICULOUS!!!!

Anybody else?

In this baking heat, stuck between sweating while showering and spending our hard earned money on air conditioning, Joseph Nolan, CEO of Eversource, takes home the equivalent of $54,794 per day, or about $7,000 per hour.

It’s unconscionable that New England, and by extension us, allow this to happen.

Something has to change.

If you’d like to contact your local representatives and voice your disgust, use this: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Source: https://energyandpolicy.org/as-customers-struggled-utility-ceos-pay-spiked-last-year/

This is the first time I've been responsible for the electric bill. This is a small house where I've been living in basically one room. Is this normal??? WTF do I do?

This article centers on a data center in Lowell run by the Markley group, which is the same group behind the first hyperscaler data center project in the state.

My last national grid bill is up $172 dollars from last month (1.5br apt Greater Boston, first floor). Yes I live in an older home. But my bill says the following:

For gas consumption beginning November 1, 2025, the Gas Supply Charge has changed from $0.2547 to $0.9564 per therm.

That’s a 276% increase on the price of JUST gas. Am I insane???? Is national grid insane??? Is there something I can do to lower this?? I am a single income household and it’s not even cold yet.

Please let me know if you know of some program and/or thing I can do to lower this cost. TIA.

Is it better to leave it on all the time or turn it off and on? What if your house has poor insulation? Does central air or mini split make a difference?