Community Aggregation Electricity in Massachusetts

A homeowner in Framingham opens the mail, finds a notice from the town saying her electricity supplier is changing in thirty days, and panics. She did not sign anything. She did not ask for this. Yet the letter is entirely legitimate, and for most people it means lower rates with zero effort required.

That letter is a community aggregation opt-out notice, and it arrives in towns across Massachusetts every year. Understanding what it means, what it commits you to, and when you might want to act on it is the whole point of this guide.

Municipal aggregation, also called community choice aggregation (CCA), is a program authorized under Massachusetts state law that allows a city or town to negotiate a single electricity supply contract on behalf of all eligible residents and small businesses in its territory.

Here is the key distinction: delivery of electricity still comes through your utility, either Eversource or National Grid, exactly as before. Lines, meters, outage response, and bills all stay the same. What changes is only the supply portion of your bill, the charge for the actual electricity commodity. Instead of paying your utility's default Basic Service rate, you pay the rate your town negotiated with a licensed competitive supplier.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) must approve every municipal aggregation plan before a town can launch one. That oversight means the program has a legal framework behind it, not just a municipal marketing pitch.

Massachusetts community aggregation is structured as opt-out, not opt-in. That means once your town adopts a plan, all eligible accounts are automatically enrolled unless a resident actively chooses to leave.

The opt-out letter you receive is a formal notice required by DPU rules. It will include:

The rate you will pay under the aggregation contract, stated in cents per kilowatt-hour.
The length of the contract, which varies by town but commonly runs one to three years.
A deadline, typically thirty days from the postmark, by which you must contact the aggregation administrator or your utility if you want to stay on Basic Service or switch to a different competitive supplier.
Instructions for opting out, usually a phone number or web portal.

If you do nothing, enrollment happens automatically. If you opt out before the deadline, you stay on Basic Service. If you opt out after enrollment has already started, you can still leave, though there may be a short processing window before the switch takes effect.

No exit fee applies for opting out of a municipal aggregation program in Massachusetts. That protection is baked into state law.

Basic Service is the default electricity supply rate set by your utility and approved by the DPU every six months for residential customers. As of August 2026, Eversource's Basic Service rate sits at approximately 17.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, while National Grid's rate, including its Nantucket territory, is approximately 17.2 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Community aggregation rates vary by town, contract term, and market conditions at the time the municipality negotiated. Some aggregation programs beat Basic Service by a meaningful margin. Others sit close to it, and occasionally a program locked in during a high-price market period may be above current Basic Service. That is why reading the specific rate on your opt-out letter matters before assuming enrollment is beneficial.

The lowest competitive supplier rates available in Massachusetts as of August 2026 are around 15.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, though not every customer in every utility territory can access that particular rate. You can compare live competitive supplier rates at ElectricRates.org's Massachusetts page or through the state-run Energy Switch Massachusetts comparison portal.

The short version: aggregation often beats Basic Service, but it is worth checking the numbers specific to your town and contract before the opt-out window closes.

Yes. Massachusetts law gives residents the right to leave a municipal aggregation program without penalty at any point, not just during the initial opt-out window. If you enroll automatically and later decide you want to switch to a different competitive supplier or return to Basic Service, you can make that change through your utility.

There is one practical note: switching mid-contract to a competitive supplier of your own choosing means you are leaving the aggregation program and signing up with that supplier under whatever terms they offer. Read the supplier contract carefully before signing, since individual competitive supplier agreements can include early termination fees even though the aggregation exit itself does not.

If you return to Basic Service after leaving aggregation, you pay whatever rate the utility has in effect at that time. Since Basic Service resets every six months, that rate could be higher or lower than when you left.

Many Massachusetts municipal aggregation plans offer a standard tier and a green tier. The standard tier typically includes the minimum renewable content required by the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard. The green tier adds a higher percentage of renewable energy, often sourced from local or regional wind and solar projects, at a slightly higher rate per kilowatt-hour.

Some towns default enroll residents in the green tier and offer the standard tier as a lower-cost alternative. Others default to standard and let residents upgrade to green. Your opt-out letter will specify which tier you are being enrolled in and what the rate difference is.

If renewable content matters to your household, this is worth reading carefully. Residents who want a specific renewable product not offered by the town's aggregation contract may find it better to opt out and shop competitive suppliers directly.

Not every Massachusetts municipality has adopted a community aggregation plan. Some towns have never pursued one. Others ran a program that ended when the contract term expired and have not renewed.

If your town has no active aggregation program, your supply defaults to Basic Service unless you actively choose a competitive supplier on your own. You are not locked out of savings just because your town has not acted collectively.

You can shop competitive suppliers directly through ElectricRates.org's Massachusetts rate comparison tool or through Energy Switch Massachusetts, the state-operated portal where licensed suppliers list available rates. As of August 2026, the lowest available rates in the state reach around 15.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to Basic Service rates in the 17-cent range, so individual shopping can produce meaningful savings even without a town program behind you.

If you want your town to explore municipal aggregation, the process starts with a vote at Town Meeting and a petition to the DPU. Local energy committees in many cities and towns can walk residents through the steps.

When the letter arrives, do these three things before the deadline:

Find the rate. It will be stated in cents per kilowatt-hour. Write it down.

Compare it to current Basic Service. Call your utility or check the DPU website for the current Basic Service rate in your territory. As of August 2026, Eversource is at about 17.3 cents and National Grid is at about 17.2 cents. If the aggregation rate is comfortably below that, enrolling is likely worth it.

Check available competitive rates. Use ElectricRates.org or Energy Switch Massachusetts to see if an individual competitive supplier offers a lower rate than the aggregation program. If so, opting out and signing with that supplier directly may save more, though you will need to read that supplier's contract terms carefully.

If the aggregation rate beats Basic Service and you do not want to spend time shopping suppliers individually, doing nothing and enrolling automatically is a perfectly reasonable choice. That is exactly what the program is designed for.

Yes, in most cases. If you receive a discount on your electricity bill through a low-income program, such as the Eversource or National Grid low-income discount rates or assistance through LIHEAP, those discounts typically apply to the delivery portion of your bill, not the supply portion. Switching supply through aggregation or a competitive supplier generally does not affect delivery-side discounts.

However, program rules can vary and may change. If you receive income-based assistance and are considering opting out of aggregation or switching suppliers, contact your utility's customer service team or reach out to LIHEAP directly to confirm that your discount status will not be affected. The DPU also accepts consumer inquiries if you want an official answer.