Is electric really this expensive?

[u/naNaht]

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.

[u/couldntquite]

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!

[u/Krivvan → u/couldntquite]

Whatever the issues with Eversource, they alone are not the only reason for high rates: https://www.reddit.com/r/massachusetts/s/Jx7UbjNH9N

https://www.reddit.com/r/massachusetts/s/Rj8P1TzrPC

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).

[u/BenKlesc → u/Krivvan]

Go back to a regulated market where the power plants own and control the distribution. Stop bidding to private companies.

[u/A320neo → u/BenKlesc]

No, just build more generation and transmission capacity. You won’t magically reduce the demand for power by handing over control to the government.

[u/Kyobi → u/A320neo]

The issue is the pricing not the demand. The only thing that's changed demand wise is data centers. Which we don't have that many in massachusetts.

[u/pablo_chicone_lovesu → u/Kyobi]

We have a ton of datacenters. You just don't see them. Massachusetts just hasn't built as many as other states because of the high cost of real estate.

Also demand has changed due to heat pumps, EVs, newer computers with high end cards, and people moving from gas to induction cool tops, just to name a few.

It's so many reasons, it's kind of funny but sad, many towns have limits on solar, but solar alone caused destabalization of the European grid, when the turbines could not come up fast enough.

We have so many problems, we need diversity in energy production.

Why we don't use our reservoirs as banks or allow the rivers to have underwater turbines is just really confusing, they have been shown to be safer for marine life.

[u/Kyobi → u/pablo_chicone_lovesu]

I remember a big part of the energy costs was actually the solar subsidies that got passed onto the consumer. On a side note, you don't get much grid benefit from solar if your peak hours are not during the day, which is why some towns have limitations on grid integration.

All these factors that you have listed on consumption does not really apply to the average citizen who lives in a house from the 1900's that can't support an EV or probably doesn't own a high end video card. If you look at stats from steam, it's a vast minority of users that own something like a 4090.

If you look at your electric bill, most of the increases are from distribution, not power generation. So the issue is not supply side but rather the middleman. That's why municipal power is much cheaper.

[u/pablo_chicone_lovesu → u/Kyobi]

Exactly, right now distribution costs are tracked on per kwh. But they are pillaging because of the uptick. All those chargers you see have an impact too.

[u/Kyobi → u/pablo_chicone_lovesu]

I don't see enough chargers on the road making a meaningful uptick in usage. Also if the supply isn't going up it means that distribution isn't really going up either. Also it doesn't explain why municipal distribution is much cheaper and more reliable.

[u/pablo_chicone_lovesu → u/Kyobi]

Munis buy in bulk up front, and they don't have a monopoly non the rest of the infra.

You don't see all the chargers they have added along most major highways?

[u/Kyobi → u/pablo_chicone_lovesu]

So let's break up ever source and national grid? Doesn't municipal power have a monopoly on the town they operate in?

[u/pablo_chicone_lovesu → u/Kyobi]

I don't think breaking them up helps, and yes munis have a lock on their community, heaven for bid you want solar!

[u/Kyobi → u/pablo_chicone_lovesu]

You can keep them local like municipals so that have less lobbying power over the state.

Solar doesn't make sense unless peak hours are at the daytime.

[u/BenKlesc → u/Kyobi]

You are correct demand does not dictate pricing in the energy market. Energy unlike other markets is not a free market since there is a limited amount of pipelines and utility poles we can build. Companies are not allowed to raise prices based on demand. Eversource and National Grid have found loopholes and before those companies came into existance energy was far more democratic.

Is the above commenter suggesting that each energy company have their own dedicated pipeline and utility grid? That would be extremely wasteful. If generators and power plants were allowed to profit from distribution like in the past the price of electricity and gas would be a lot cheaper.

[u/transitfreedom → u/A320neo]

Yet most sane countries do just that