{"id":339,"date":"2023-03-02T17:37:59","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T23:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/?p=339"},"modified":"2023-03-02T17:38:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T23:38:01","slug":"dpu-investigating-ma-electricity-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/dpu-investigating-ma-electricity-services\/","title":{"rendered":"DPU Investigating MA Electricity Services"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>DPU Studies Electricity Rates Across State<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MA-DPU-electricity-services-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"MA electricity services were outrageously expensive this winter. Learn what the DPU investigation uncovered.\" class=\"wp-image-380\" title=\"MA DPU Investigates High Cost Electricity Services\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MA-DPU-electricity-services-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MA-DPU-electricity-services-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MA-DPU-electricity-services-230x230.jpg 230w, https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MA-DPU-electricity-services-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MA-DPU-electricity-services-480x480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MA-DPU-electricity-services.jpg 591w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption><center><em>The MA DPU has been investigating what&#8217;s been driving electricity services prices higher across the state. Find out what they found and if there&#8217;s more to the story.<\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>MA paid very high <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/electricity-rates\">electricity rates<\/a> and services this winter. That&#8217;s no secret, especially when you look at basic electric supply rates across the state. But lawmakers have questions and they have asked the <strong>Department of Public Utilities (DPU)<\/strong> to find answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Why DPU Is Investigating?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In January, lawmakers <a href=\"https:\/\/nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statehousenews.com%2Fcontent%2Fdocs%2F2023%2F02-03lettertoDPU.pdf&amp;data=05%7C01%7CAshley.Shook%40wwlp.com%7C95f508bb5c3145611c9208db06022d47%7C9e5488e2e83844f6886cc7608242767e%7C0%7C0%7C638110378636106512%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=AvGgSW5kKN0vAJF8ikZSLEXss84uxKuwAUoZ%2BnHr%2Fi0%3D&amp;reserved=0\">sent a letter<\/a> to DPU chair, Matthew Nelson. In it, they asked him to reconsider how the DPU approves winter energy supply rates. Lawmakers agreed that winter rate hikes are justified by high natural gas prices. But as it turns out, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/naturalgas\/weekly\/\">natural gas prices<\/a> have dropped since the start of the year. So the letter reasons that basic supply rates and electricity bills should drop to reflect this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Electricity Services Rate Periods<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Early on, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwlp.com\/news\/state-politics\/dpu-investigates-electric-services-across-the-state\/\">the investigation<\/a> found that the two current six-month rate periods helped cause problems. That&#8217;s because the two months with the highest heating costs, January and February, are both in the same rate period. This makes winter rates the most expensive of the year.  As a result, the DPU proposes to redefine the rate periods (February &#8211; July, August &#8211; January). This way at least one of the most expensive months would follow a lower rate and help rein-in costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fileservice.eea.comacloud.net\/FileService.Api\/file\/FileRoom\/16849994\">The investigation<\/a> is also looking into basic service procurement. Because right now, basic services rates for electricity are at an all-time high. On top of this, less than half the state&#8217;s customers are on basic service rates. That means MA utilities have to find a way to change so they can offer affordable basic service rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>DPU Orders Short-Term Relief<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the short term, DPU ordered natural gas companies to revise their supply rates to match natural gas prices. This led to a drop in basic service rates from February to April. And since generators also burn natural gas, most customers will save 4%-5% on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/resources\/high-massachusetts-electricity-bill\">electricity bills<\/a> as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Expensive MA Electricity Services<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Lawmakers are doing what they can to deal with high electric service rates. And while the DPU looks deeper, customers can hope this probe finds solutions to the high cost of winter heating. In the meantime, of the best ways to save are by cutting your usage and shopping cheap electricity rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, you can learn other ways to save money and shop the best rates and plans at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DPU Studies Electricity Rates Across State MA paid very high electricity rates [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false},"categories":[2,10,18,21,16],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>DPU Investigating MA Electricity Services - MAER: The Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With MA customers paying expensive electricity services this winter, find out how the DPU learned and where it&#039;s looking to cut rates.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/dpu-investigating-ma-electricity-services\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DPU Investigating MA Electricity Services - MAER: The Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With MA customers paying expensive electricity services this winter, find out how the DPU learned and where it&#039;s looking to cut rates.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/dpu-investigating-ma-electricity-services\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MAER: The Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-02T23:37:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-02T23:38:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/high-cost-electricity-services.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"736\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"475\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"William Maldonado\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"William Maldonado\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"MAER: The Blog\",\"description\":\"Compare the Best Electricity Rates in Massachusetts\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/dpu-investigating-ma-electricity-services\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.maenergyratings.com\/blog\/dpu-investigating-ma-electricity-services\/\",\"name\":\"DPU Investigating MA Electricity Services - 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