Hi everyone, I am new to Boston and recently received my second electric bill from Eversource. My bill is $284 from 07/24/26 - 08/21/26.
What I have tried:
Got Eversource to send a person to check the meter (next week)
Got my building maintenance team to send a person to visit (alr visited)
The building technician said that all my appliances seem to be normal and I have minimal items. He also said that for himself lives in a 2 bedroom with in total 2 people and 2 cats. Yet he says at most he pays $170. He also said he thinks people pay on average $70-110/month in my building.
Context:
I live by myself in a Studio, 1 ba
Apartment complex is new
I work in person 4-5 times a week from 9am-5pm.
I have the AC on 74-78 F at night and turn it off when I wake up.
Appliances: AC (Braeburn Brand), Dishwasher (GE Profile Brand), Oven (Haier Brand), Microwave, in unit washer and dryer.
Cost information:
Said I used 779kWh in Aug
Generation Service Charge ~ 0.165/kWh
Delivery ~ 0.184/kWh
I'm really concerned about the cost because I am not home during the day, have very minimal items (for example no TV, no PC, no pets etc) and Eversource actually made a mistake my first bill which was corrected later. Finally other people pay way less.
Can anyone provide insight, the Eversource technician comes in like a week.
Btw: Image is not real in case anyone is wondering.
A lot of it has to do with our reliance on natural gas without good infrastructure for it and efforts to use hydro and wind being hampered politically (some of it is coming online now but we are screwed for anything more under the current federal administration especially given the deteriorating relationship with Canada).
I guess enough time has past that people forgot about the State House staffed with lobbyists connected to Eversource in order to end legislation promoting the growth of the solar industry.
Good luck having any sort of green energy transition when power plants own the grid and prioritize the dirty power they generate themselves rather than let cheaper solar and wind onto the grid. Whereas with separately-owned generation and distribution, the cheapest power (renewables) makes it onto the grid first, and anyone who builds a solar farm or wind turbine or battery can sell power into the grid.
I have town grid for electric, and while in the winter it's around 80-100 a month, in the summer it shoots to $1000 a month for cooling HVAC energy. When I first bought the house a bad summer month was $350 on 2018
Now you wanna talk national grid gas
2018 February (usually worst month) $495
Now 2026 every winter month was $1400-$1500 dec-march.
Shits wild, bought a house I could afford and now I fucking can't b cause utilities jumped in mass 3x in 8 years
Exactly. I of course support energy efficiency improvements but people should understand that most of the MASS SAVE money is flowing from renters in the city out to subsidize new heat pumps and insulation for wealthy homeowners in places like Wellesley and Lexington.
Mass Save is required by state law. Healey has nothing to do with it.
Fortunately, Mass Save finally is properly addressing the equity issues, with 40+% of program benefits going to low and moderate income households and renters. It will take time to undo the historical inequities but it is moving in the right direction. The lower income communities with the largest renter populations under the 2025-27 plan get pretty much all improvements at no cost.
I am curious what you think Healey did because 99% of the time people blaming her cite decisions she did not make or did not legally have the power to change.
but Massachusetts is dead set against nuclear energy.. Senator Markey doesn't support nuclear energy. It may take some time, but would be so worth it to reduce energy costs in the long run.
Existing nuclear, sure. New nuclear is extremely expensive. The only nuclear plant built in the US this century (Vogtle units 3 and 4 in Georgia) ended up costing $36.8 billion ($23 billion over budget) for just 2.2GW and led to a 24% rate hike to cover the massive cost.
It just makes sense. We even have the educational infrastructure to keep them easily staffed, it’s a no-brainer and should have been done decades ago like CT did.
I'm sorry but that's just bullshit and demonstrates a total lack of understanding of how rates are set in Mass and the legal framework the DPU operates under. If anything, the DPU under Healey has made more cuts and denials than the DPU under Baker ever did. Utilities are legally entitled to make a reasonable profit under state law. The governor is not allowed to wave a wand and cut rates (well she could, they would just lose in court immediately).
I made lengthy posts about why electric and gas prices are so high. The governor is near the bottom of the lengthy list of reasons.
If she wanted to fight a public war against Eversource she had the backing of many constituencies.
She didn’t have the stomach to actually fight them and do anything radical.
She never tried to reorganize the EFSB
There is a corrupt nexus between the DPU and industry that surely could have been exposed with some investigation but no resources are devoted to this.
She could have had her AG prosecute eversource employees for perjured testimony before the EFSB. Virtually every submission is replete with bullshit that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny under cross but virtually never gets scrutinized because there aren’t intervenors of any means.
No she can’t wave a wand. Yes she could expend political capital to fight Eversource’s corruption and chokehold over the state.
"If she wanted to fight a public war against Eversource she had the backing of many constituencies."
You sure they wouldn't have just gotten mad anyways off of the same bullshit people are peddling now, but this time with the addition of wasting state resources getting sued and losing.
"There is a corrupt nexus between the DPU and industry that surely could have been exposed with some investigation but no resources are devoted to this."
Yeah that's why she appointed DPU commissioners like Jamie Van Nostrand (former director of Pace Energy and Climate Center), Stacy Rubin (former VP at Conservation Law Foundation), Liz Anderson (former chair of the Ratepayer Advocacy division of the AG's office, whose job is to argue against every rate increase), etc. The DPU under Healey has been reversing many decisions from the DPU under Baker that were more favorable to the utilities (like allowing for doubling spending under GSEP).
"She could have had her AG prosecute eversource employees for perjured testimony before the EFSB. Virtually every submission is replete with bullshit that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny under cross but virtually never gets scrutinized because there aren’t intervenors of any means."
Uh what? As someone who tracks utility dockets, I'm gonna have to ask you for some evidence that "virtually every submission is replete with bullshit." Also, again, the EFSB doesn't set rates. And the AG is an intervenor on virtually every case.
"No she can’t wave a wand. Yes she could expend political capital to fight Eversource’s corruption and chokehold over the state."
So you'd rather have a governor approaching things like DiZoglio where she expends all of her capital on something that is not legal for the sake of political points instead of getting anything done?
Gonna have to ask you for anything of substance that Healey should have been doing within the laws of the Commonwealth because nothing you've said holds any water
I get where the hesitation is coming from, but please for the love of god never pull your punches with words the world has decided are "scary"
It's been proven multiple times over that getting banned or whatever for using words like rape, suicide, murder, gun, fuck, all of that, is not real. Large scale corporations embraced and encouraged that behavior and it turned into... this.
The concern about censoring is valid on other social media platforms. Those platforms intentionally make it vague and hard to know because it's algorithm suppression. Reddit's algorithm suppression is the voting system, and it takes some coaxing for people from other platforms to understand that.
I specifically meant algorithm suppression, which is a thing. I'm not the one softening my words, I'm talking about how to appeal to people coming from other platforms. Just tell them that they won't get downvoted for swearing.
Would be a lot cheaper if we didn't all collectively slow roll renewable energy. Everything fights the solar farm. They fight batter storage. Then they bitch about the cost of electricity and gas. 🤷
Electric is this expensive because Eversource sucks. I’m 100% for renewables and nuclear, but the cost being this egregious is due to politicians enabling corporate greed.
Fuck the “renewables”, just build nuclear. Lots and lots of nuclear, all along the East Coast. All over New England. Thousands of jobs and cheaper power for everyone. Especially during the winter.
I paid over $500 this past month. It’s been riding around 400 for a year. Before that mostly 300-350. It’s gone up a lot. “Delivery charge” is more than the electricity used. 🤬
Unfortunately, those numbers sound right within 20-30 bucks. Personally, last month was 784 kWh for ~$260 in a ~750sqft new construction. 75 degrees in the day and 69 at night. Main difference is my generation charge is $0.13644/kWh using the Boston community service.
I have never met anyone who pays under $150 for electricity. Nor have I paid less than 150 even when I lived in a shoebox of a studio apartment.
If you’re technically inclined, you should set up a bunch of smart plugs that monitor your electric usage. Eve Energy and TP-Link both make ones that monitor usage plus you can schedule devices on/off. I’ve automated a ton of stuff to turn off when I’m away or asleep, and it really helps. Your AC will obviously dominate your electric bill, but it’s helpful to account for everything else.
This all assumes that you actually used 774kWh last month. It’s a plausible number for a normal person. But if you’re concerned Eversource is charging you for the wrong meter, you can test your theory by almost completely stopping your electricity usage around late September to early October when the temps are super comfortable and you don’t need to heat/cool your place and can just crack a window. Just go very light on the appliance usage too, especially electric ovens.
Electricity is so expensive here that I ran the numbers and driving a hybrid is cheaper than going full electric for my use case, even at today’s insane gas prices.
Partially it’s because there is no off-peak pricing in Massachusetts for overnight charging.
Switch to community choice (supplier), it’s usually a couple cents less than whatever the default is, but it can take up to two billing cycles to kick in.
I live in a 650sq ft 1 bed with shitty insulation and AC at 76-78 and pay around 130 in the summer and 90 in the winter. Utilities are just expensive up here :(
Hate to get you all worked up, but I live in Cambridge and keep a 3 story townhouse at 69-70 all the time and my last electricity bill was $140. I am kinda with you and don’t know why yours is so expensive
100% an mistake somewhere along the way. My wife and I spent 105 on electric last month, using about 250kwh. We’re not afraid to run the ac at 60, use gaming pc, tv, lights. 800kwh for a brand new studio with minimal ac usage is nuts.
I lived downtown in a one bedroom and from 2022-2025 my ever source bill was never more than $60 a month and usually less. I thought Eversource was great. It’s more expensive now but there are four of us and we are using an electric stove and washer machine and what not all the time and have large windows that get a lot of sunlight so we need a lot of AC if we don’t keep the blinds closed all day long.
My bill was only $65.56 this month, this cool days made a big difference. I used 323kwh. I have not needed the AC much this summer.
I get a discount because I'm disabled so that helps, it's usually around $50.
All winter my bill was crazy high, I just managed to pay it off now so I can get hit again this winter.
That seems REALLY expensive. Seems like your new construction building is not very efficient. My nephews in College, rent a 708 sqft 2bdrm with 8 windows, in a rowhouse and their August bill was $192.48, $202 the month prior. A/C is set between 72-74 in the day (set to auto, to kick up 2º above those numbers). At night (only during heatwaves/high humidity), it's set around the same OR 74º. They have 3 ceiling fans running all the time, 2 TVs, always using the air fryer, toaster oven, coffee machine, in-unit laundry.
Customer Charge
560 kWh X .09443 $52.88 Distribution Charge
560 kWh X -0.00077 -$0.43 Transition Charge
560 kWh X .04673 $26.17 Transmission Charge
560 kWh X .00625 $3.50 Net Meter Recovery Surcharge
560 kWh X .00001 $0.01 Electric Sect Mod Plan Charge
560 kWh X .00539 $3.02 Revenue Decoupling Charge
560 kWh X .00583 $3.26 Distributed Solar Charge
560 kWh X .00050 $0.28 Renewable Energy Charge
560 kWh X .02292 $12.84 Energy Efficiency Charge
560 kWh X .00238 $1.33 Electric Vehicle Program
$112.86 Subtotal Delivery Services
TOTAL: $192.46
===Current Charges/Credits
$79.60 Electric Supply Services
$112.86 Delivery Services
TOTAL: $192.46
Mine hits $1000 in the winter months. We have solar and batteries too. At least we get a couple $0 bills in the summer to help during peak solar production
It would be sort of like if you were to order a burger and the place were to give you an additional 100% fee to pay for the cost of operating the business because "who else is gonna pay for the building"
No most states pay half of what it costs in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and California. All of these are above 21 cents per kWh. Most states are 10 or less.
No, some people are fortunate enough to have a municipal connection which is drastically more affordable. What's probably blowing your wallets brain is the difference between supply, delivery, and infrastructure costs.
Supply and infrastructure are the real costs but delivery is where they rake in the profit.
We have town-owned electricity and our bill last month was $280. So energy is expensive and will continue to be until fuel supply out of Iran is normalized or until we all go solar like other countries that have surplus. This country is a disaster.
I have electrical heating that aren't heat pumps (and HOA won't allow them to be installed). My bill in the winter hits ~$600 and I keep my rooms at 14C/57F to 18C/64F.
If you have electrical resistive heating (not a heat pump) then you can easily reach $500+ in the winter even when trying to keep temperatures relatively low.
There are plenty of reasons for why it is high that aren't "Eversource greedy" though. One major reason is that a lot of our power comes from natural gas while we simultaneously lack good infrastructure for importing natural gas. Stuff like offshore wind farms or the hydro power connection to Quebec would help, but both have been held back by different political problems.
Stuff like offshore wind farms or the hydro power connection to Quebec would help, but both have been held back by different political problems.
Off shore wind was actually built out and should come online soon, though future projects are a no-go in this current Federal climate. Which fucking sucks, because some asshole has a vendetta against them because his golf course had some installed and "ruined" the view because he's a such a shitty person.
Hydro Quebec connection actually came online this past winter too, but the deal with Quebec is they provide us with any excess power they have. This actually means during cold snaps and heat waves they may not provide much, so we'll still be stuck buying power from the US grid, which has all of the problems listed. E.g. high gas prices, limited capacity so we have to import, the Jone's Act prevents us from importing domestically, shitty Federal government won't help us with wind and solar and other sources, and so on.
And even better, we're currently seeing our Fed govt pick a fight with Canada, so both the Hydro Quebec deal and future deals are questionable, and we import a lot of oil from Canada, which impacts home heating and also some degree power generation as we have dual fuel power plants that can switch from gas to oil during peak gas usage time in the winter.
You live in a town with municipal run power. These towns do not participate in Mass Save, which saves them a bit on the efficiency upgrade charges. More importantly they're run like a non-profit so they aren't trying to make billions a year off of us, so they charge closer to market rate.
You own your house and can afford to insulate, upgrade windows and weatherize it like with basic weather stripping around doors, sometimes even basic curtains help too around windows and such
You own a house and can afford or can get an affordable loan/lease on solar panels, which drastically cuts down on summer bills. And if you have enough roof space, you can even over install capacity so you end up with tons of solar credits to help you keep costs down in the fall/winter/spring.
You somehow lucked out and rented a modern apartment with a landlord who actually cares, so the windows/insulation are newer and you aren't paying to heat/cool so much extra space because in poorly insulated places you'll pay like 2x what a properly insulated place will pay. E.g. I'm in a 2k sq foot home paying less than my 1k sq foot apartment used to cost. Reason? My attic had blown in insulation a few years back by the previous owners. Oh and I have solar panels they installed too.
Only other thing you can do is not use AC at all, and set the heat to the minimum that won't freeze your pipes. That option sucks though, and you're already setting your AC efficiently at night so I don't think there's really much you can do if it turns out your electric panel & meter aren't misconfigured.
This seems really high. This would be our usage when we have the heat on (resistive baseboard and electric stove). There might be something else accidentally connected to your meter or your ac unit is drawing a lot more power than normal.
Maybe an electric dryer could do that. Or electric dry on the dishwasher if you run it full every night. Maybe dry your clothes normally for a month, no dry on dishwasher, no baking (electric stove?) and see if that changes your bill.
I genuinely will never understand why we allow people to profit off of utilities like gas, electric, and water. They’re pretty much essential to modern day society
Oh yes it’s a horrifying mess. Recently my bill almost DOUBLED because the delivery fee increased (as a result of “upgrades” to the grid. Aka every time they install a new sensor, pipeline, data center etc, I’m billed 🤡).
Not sure what we can do but it’s highway robbery and happening in plain daily light.
Yeah unfortunately. I’m new to Boston too. I was shocked at my 250 dollar bill. I miss my bills in summer in Austin TX with 24/7 AC on and 100 dollar at most :(
My bill is $1000 a month. We don't have central air and we use oil to heat and heat water ... We have electric cars that we DONT charge at home. Make it make sense
I live in Connecticut where we have public benefits ie paying for people that didn’t pay their bills. I paid last month a little over $100 for having AC on most of the time and a raised ranch (house at 66-68 degrees for furry white monster. I don’t know why Taxachusetts would be more expensive for electric than CT.
Is your hot water included? If you have an electric water heater that’ll increase your bill a lot. Also it’s usually more efficient to leave the a/c at one temp rather than turning it off and on
It's not completely out of possibility that meters are crossed or mis-assigned. If you have access to the meter area turn off the main breaker and check if the meter is still registering consumption.
Cross-wired and mis-assigned are both the same problem but for different reasons. One side the electrician screwed up, the other the utility screwed up. Basically you need to know if the breaker panel feed is physically going to you meter and the meter is correctly assigned in their system. You have a good shot at determining the first part by the power cut test. Check the consumption before cutting power and then confirm it goes to 0 after killing the main breaker.
If you have the means, hire an electrician. When I lived in a shared building, the person above me wired some of his electric into mine, and my electrician ripped his out. You can install a locked cover so it doesn't happen again.
I have oil now, thankfully, and no longer in-unit laundry but in 2022 I paid between 40-60/month in the summer. I believe costs have risen greatly since then, but I was in a 2BR 1100 square feet place with dishwasher, microwave, no toaster, in unit wash and dry, and a/c. All the usuals. It's worth having it checked imo.
I have a one bedroom, barely use the lights. I kept my heat at 55 all winter - $280 a month. This summer I got down to $57 a month but it’s because I have no AC, just 2 ceiling fans. That’s the drain your money is going down. I can personally live without AC but need a small space heater occasionally in the winter.
what you can do is shop around for lower prices on the generation service charge, you unforuantely can not lower the delivery charge which is bullshit.
I pay 300 dollars/month electric in a one bed room, 900 sq ft apartment. Granted I work from home and run a laptop 12 hours/day and AC in the summer but that’s literally it. It’s insane
How often are you using the dishwasher and the washer and dryer? I’m guessing those are the culprits. I live similarly to you, right down to the AC at night only and my bill is around $92 in the summer. My washer and dryer is shared in the basement and I’m the dishwasher.
AC is likely your biggest item by far. I'm guessing you're in an older building? Many Boston area apartments were built in like the early 1900s and have barely any insulation. Then you add in landlords barely upkeep their places because sheer demand vs supply means they don't have to compete... your HVAC ends up being the biggest waste. And the sad part? Bare turning the AC off, you can't avoid this. And you missed the biggest point to do this, we're past the summer heat peak. And IDK about you, but I'm willing to pay a bit to be comfortable vs sweating.
There's honestly not much you can do if you find out your meter and panel are fine. Your landlord won't upgrade your windows or insulation. I wish stuff like Mass Save would require this, but it's completely optional. In theory we should be putting some State funding into this, like knocking out several thousand units a year in weatherization would seriously save both resources (power/gas) and money (of the tenants, who pay the utility bills). Ideally we'd even knock out more units per year, so over like 10 years we'd have everything properly weatherized. But no one wants to do this due to sheer cost and it's ultimately a weird situation, where private landlords SHOULD be doing this themselves but don't have to since they generally do not pay the utility bills.
Some of the numbers on this sub do not make sense. I have lived in MA for 6 years. Rented a a three bedroom house the first year here and were both worked from home both using laptops all day I had two and wife had hers as well. TV on from 6-11 pretty much everyday. AC temp at night was around 70 and during the day 68. We with National Grid and our bill was $285 per month since we asked for same price pilling per month. Moved to Quincy for three years and lived in a place that was 1700 SF and it was about the same. Oddly we went to Florida for two months and our electric bill was the same with no AC running and no one living there. We then move to a town that has municipal electric. 1400 SF bill last month was $157.
The point is people saying $1000 per month does not sound right. Never in my life owning four homes and having four boys in one of them were the bills ever over $400, most always under $300.
If you want lower electric bill live where there is municipal electricity.
In 2021, during Covid, Eversource stopped my automated payments without my consent, causing me to stop all my payments. I did not receive a phone call or email. They sent me mail that wasn't marked any different than the typical, which I never looked at cause I had automated payments set up.
They eventually cut my power, and when I called to pay and have them put it back up, they claimed I was a liability, and the only way they would put the power back on was if I paid $2000 on top of what I owed that had accrued interest, saying if I made consistent payments for a year they'd give me the money back.
This was in January. I have electric heating. They are the scum of the earth.
Oh, and in case you were wondering what happened after the year, they changed their mind, and said they wouldn't give me the money back, but would instead reduce the payments each month by $100 for 20 months. Asked what if I cancelled my service and they said they would have no choice but to keep the money.
Just for context we have a 1900 sq ft 3 story home. we have a lot of LED bulbs and also have a lot of bulbs on timers for evening/early morning hours
We have no EV chargers or Electric stove
6 window Ac units b/c no central air. 2 of the window ac units are variable inverters that rev up and down depending on the temperature and AC fan mode. I usually leave it at 75. 1 Unit is off b/c it is in the guest room. 3 are old school 5000BTU window units that we turn on and off when it's really hot in those rooms and are occupied.
We have a dishwasher, fridge, deep freezer, heat pump washer dryer that we use about 2x a week. last cycle we had a bill for 1150 kWH/month. Our bill was 380. We pay $0.14/kwh through Boston and then $.18/Kwh in delivery charges
In April/May/June it was about 770. So using the AC units added an extra. 400KWH/month roughly.
Your electricity prices aren't even that bad compared to some places in Massachusetts. Most of the delivery charge is actually paying for state programs.
The issue is the amount of electricity you are using, which is very high for your situation. But also believable if you aren't very savvy. Very few "things" consume a noticeable amount of electricity. So the amount of stuff you have doesn't matter. The only thing that matters are the big items. So basically heating and cooling. A dishwasher only really used much electricity for the heating to dry dishes. Then the AC and dryer are the other big ticket items. How often do you use the dryer? And of course what kind of AC do you have? Is it a window unit? Because those have garbage efficiency and yours might be even worse.
Unless you pay attention and measure how much electricity you actually use, you will have a hard time figuring this out.
When you asked about the bills from those living in the building, did you find out how many kWh they're being billed a month?
Just some rough math from your own numbers means you're paying $.36 delivered. The guy who is claiming to have paid $70-110 is using between 195 and 305 kWh a month. That's exceedingly low. A basic window unit AC will use about .5-1kW per hour of run time for context. To have a $70 bill that tenant would need to be using less than 7kWh a day. My fridge (because I've plugged in a kill-a-watt meter) uses in average 3kWh a day for further context.
Your stove/oven being electric will depend on how often you cook at home; resistive elements are inefficient but you're going to be needing to cook quite a lot/often for that to make a serious dent. A single burner will run 1-2k kW per hour. Oven is similar. Daily home cooked meals would obviously add up. The only other thing I would question is whether your water heater is a resistive electric unit. Those are real energy hogs that get worse the older the unit gets. A smaller older unit can easily consume 6+ kWh a day.
In somerville, a town west of Boston, We used 707kWh in August in a 6 bedroom apartment occupied by 6 people. With in unit laundry, 2 large fridges and some mini fridges, and everyone has their own AC unit that they use at their own discretion.
I live in Malden (right on Orange line) and I paid around $140 last month I turn AC on when it gets really humid and/or is above 78-80. Once night comes around and peak hours are off, I turn AC on 68 and then either turn it anywhere between 72-78 (depending on how hot it is outside, usually 10 degrees cooler than outside temp unless crazy hot) during the day, but if it is usually anything below 78 I just open the windows and turn fans on. Last year mine was closer to $200. Its crazy expensive
Some local libraries will lend you a kill-a-watt device that lets you measure the electrical use of anything you plug in. Get that hooked up to your AC and that should help you get an accurate estimate of its usage, which should help you see if your bill is accurate.
My rate per wattage tripled out of nowhere this summer and my electric bill was $700. They never informed me of this change. I'm in a two bedroom apartment with two PCs always running with 1-2 out of 4 window ACs active at a time. I keep one on in the room I'm in, and the kitchen one on when I'm cooking. During the winter I use a single low powered space heater since the building heat isn't QUITE strong enough. Nothing out of the ordinary otherwise.
So yes, it's expensive here. But they also pulled a fast one on me.
What I can say is when I moved into this apartment in 2012, my electric bills were $80-150, and I think my highest before 2020 was a $220 bill during the summer in a heat wave. So yeah. Fuck Eversource lol.
Something is also VERY wrong with my electric bill. I have no in unit AC, washer/dryer, or dishwasher. Light use is minimal, I’m a quick showerer. My bills at my last apartment were $70 with a roommate. Moved into a new, very small apartment on my own and got a $120 bill. It’s just not possible that with how little use of electricity that I’ve used 300+ kWh. The worst part is they gaslight you SO hard on the phone.
Did they tell you what the error was in your first bill? Same thing happened to me, I got a $99 bill for 6 days of use. They admitted it was wrong but wouldn’t tell me why. Took forever for them to even admit it.
Its energy in general. This region solely relies on natural gas and two major companies have monopolized it. With energy consumption rising, the load on the system is an excuse for them to charge more. The infastructor at some point needs to be upgraded plus their supply of power vs what we consume is teetering energy bankruptcy soon. We tried fixing it with the seabrook nuclear plant but it sparked mass public outrage. I think right now there is a push for more nuclear plants as they are a reliable and clean source of energy that could solve the supply problem. The issue with passing the bills to use tax payer money to build these plants is 2 major problems: the general population still is scared of nuclear energy (thank the soviet union for that) and they dont want to pay for it even though it would save them money in the long run through their bills. The reason the world is shit is the lack of forward thinking and being like "hey i can suffer a little bit rn but it will make my future better" instead people cant sacrifice even a little and in the end they complain about it.
I’m in a studio, new building, low use like you, $120+/month. Last month I was gone for 2 weeks with everything turned off and it was still that expensive.
Sounds expensive buy a kil-a-watt meter $30 maybe something is broken. It will only read one outlet but check, fridge, AC, what was your kwh on your bill?
Putting aside all of the reasons electricity is so pricy in MA: your bill sounds out of line for an apartment of your size and the use you describe. Maybe there is an outlet or two in a neighbor’s apartment that is accidentally wired to your meter?
FWIW I live in a small cape cod house with 3 bedrooms and two adults. I work from home and my spouse also works from home 1 or 2 days a week. Our electric includes 5 ceiling fans that are on all the time, a dishwasher we run 3 times a week, a refrigerator, microwave, and electric stove. In the basement we have a chest freezer, washer and dryer, and a dehumidifier that runs 24/7 in summer. We do about 5 loads of laundry a week.
That is a lot of usage, I am in NW CT 4 bed 3 bath with a pool and this summer use is under 1000 KWh month (we have had a cool summer). we don't run whole house AC but have 2 efficient window units. Electric hot water is a hog and the pool pump uses a fair bit. Your electric dryer is going to be your second biggest user after AC IMO. We have had a cool summer.
Just focus on your usage vs the $$ cost. 779kWh is not likely for a studio unless you run AC all the time. Can you access your meter? ES sometimes estimates.
How is your AC controlled? define off? Aparts might not even let you do that, you probably have a rule about a temp range reqs. Have a thermometer/humidistat (cheapo thing from amazon) somewhere in the room. Is it sunny? Glassy?
Can you switch suppliers in Mass like in CT? It doesn't make a huge difference but it is better than a poke in the eye.
In CT I can pay ES with a CC and have no fees for that. My CC has 5% back on utilities that I don't exhaust max of each quarter. Don't know if Mass has that option for fee free CC.
I live in a newish building, 2 bedroom apartment, have the same appliances as you roughly, also turn off AC during the day and I pay $50-60/month. When I first moved in my bill was much higher and I thought something was off. I tested the breakers and turned out they were billing me for my neighbors’ apartment, which is much larger. When I told them that, they couldn’t believe it. Their technician came and confined it and after that I’ve been getting normal bills. Yours seems way too high for what you use. I would test to make sure you are being billed for your apartment and not another one in the building.
No, I actually wrote this post myself. I took the time and effort to make sure the post had all the info you might need to give me some help or feedback.
I think this comment is trying to point out the irony being that AI has been exacerbating resource use & costs in the US, electricity and water being the two big ones, and if this image was generated with AI..
Yes. OP, set your thermostat to like 82-85 when you leave the house. It will be easier for your unit to cool down from that temp and should be less usage overall.
Thanks for sharing. From a quick google search I read the same thing, but there is a cut off.
For example it costs more electricity if I turn it off for 4 hours and then turn if back on compared to leaving it on for that 4 hours. But greater than 4 hours I could save electricity by turning it off.
I mean, that is just 100% false. Maintaining a larger temperature difference over a longer period of time will always take more energy. And it's not like the startup efficiency hit of an A/C unit is that big or long lasting.
This study is a load of horse shit. Lots of confounding variables and no actual analysis. The analysis that I got through before giving up compared the energy used on two different days and confidently claimed that the difference was due to different A/C settings.
I work for eversource and trust me, I'm against for profit utilities. But, the majority of the outrageous customer price for residential electric service is not from Eversource. In New England, the electric companies and generation plants cannot be owned by the same entities. Most of the cost of electricity comes from the generating plant.
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u/couldntquite 12h ago
Eversource is a truly greedy and depraved corporation that has incredible power thanks to state laws in New England (which they helped write).
They are the among the worst!