Time-of-Use Electricity Plans in Massachusetts (2026)
Eversource and National Grid file 66 time-of-use tariffs between them. With the highest residential rates in the contiguous U.S., TOU savings hit hardest here.
If I switched to TOU in Massachusetts, when are peak hours?
Across the 3 Massachusetts utilities offering time-of-use plans, peak windows fall on weekday afternoons — most schedules concentrate peak pricing between roughly 2pm and 7pm, with off-peak running overnight and on weekends. There are 66 current TOU tariffs on file in the URDB. The exact peak window varies by utility; see each utility's heatmap below.
Time-of-use electricity in Massachusetts
Massachusetts has the most aggressive grid-modernization push of any state we serve. URDB documents 66 current TOU tariffs across Eversource and National Grid Massachusetts, with smaller schedules at Nantucket Electric. The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) has approved a state-wide advanced metering rollout that will make time-of-use the default rate structure for new service in coming years.
Is time-of-use worth it in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts already has the highest residential rates in the contiguous U.S. — which means TOU savings, in absolute dollars, are larger here than anywhere else in our footprint. EV owners on a TOU-EV rate can pay 50-70% less per overnight kWh than they would on the flat residential rate. Solar-plus-battery households that export during peak and import during off-peak can effectively halve their grid bills.
The honest answer for most households is: it depends on how much of your usage you can move. Time-of-use plans are a swap — you accept a higher rate during peak hours in exchange for a lower rate during off-peak hours. If your home runs heaviest during peak hours and you can't shift it, you'll lose money. If you can shift even 30-40% of your usage into off-peak windows, you'll usually come out ahead.
Good candidates for TOU
- EV owners who charge overnight
- Households with battery storage
- Remote workers with flexible schedules
- Pool/spa pumps on timers
- Smart thermostats with pre-cooling
Poor candidates for TOU
- All-day occupied homes (retirees, families with young kids)
- Older A/C systems that run constantly in summer
- Resistive electric heat in winter
- Households without smart appliances or schedule flexibility
Run the math first. Look at your last 12 months of usage hour-by-hour if you have a smart meter, or estimate the percentage of your usage that already falls in off-peak hours. If less than 50% is off-peak, TOU probably costs you money. Our Bill Grade tool evaluates this for free.
Massachusetts utilities with time-of-use plans
Each utility's count of currently filed TOU tariffs in URDB. Click through to the utility page for full plan details and live rates.
| Utility | TOU plans | Fixed $/mo | Default ¢/kWh | Tariff source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eversource Energy (MA) | 39 | $10.00 | 17.8¢ | Tariff PDF |
| National Grid (MA) | 19 | $10.00 | 18.1¢ | Tariff PDF |
| Nantucket Electric | 8 | $7.00 | 19.4¢ | Tariff PDF |
When does peak time hit on each Massachusetts utility?
Below: each utility's most recently filed TOU schedule, rendered as a 7-day × 24-hour heatmap. Colored cells mark the peak hours you pay the most for. Data sourced directly from each utility's filed tariff via NREL URDB.
Why peak hours exist on Massachusetts's grid
Massachusetts sits in ISO New England. Winter peaks matter as much as summer — natural gas constraints push wholesale prices to extreme levels during cold snaps. Most Massachusetts TOU schedules carry separate peak windows for summer and winter, and many split weekdays from weekends.
TOU rates exist because wholesale electricity costs vary hour by hour. The retail price most households pay is a blended average across the entire month — cheap and expensive hours mixed together. A TOU rate unblends them: you pay closer to the actual hourly cost. That's good news if your usage skews to cheap hours, bad news if it skews to expensive ones.
Run your own TOU savings estimate
Plug your monthly usage and your typical schedule into our TOU visualizer to see if a time-of-use plan would have saved you money over the past year. The tool pulls real peak-hour schedules from your utility's URDB-filed tariff.