MASSPIRG calls for consumer protections for electric ratepayers

MASSPIRG’s Legislative Director, Deirdre Cummings, testified this week before the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.

“As a consumer advocacy organization, MASSPIRG is generally averse to interfering with the right of consumers to make choices in the marketplace – even choices some may argue are costly or harmful. But this case is different. As the state attorney general noted, the third-party electric suppliers have created a ‘predatory and broken market.’ Over the last 9 years, consumers have overpaid for electricity to the tune of $651 million, through unethical, predatory and deceptive sales tactics.

H.3534 & S.2255, An Act relative to electric ratepayer protections, filed by Senator Crighton and Representative F. Moran would prohibit suppliers from signing up new residential customers as of January 1, 2026. This bill would not prevent sales to municipalities or other non-residential customers.  

 We hope you will protect ratepayers and pass the bill from your committee.”

Background:

In 1997, Massachusetts deregulated its electricity market. Today, consumers can elect to purchase their electric supply from their utility, their local municipal aggregation program (for the 177 towns and cities that currently have them, with 40 or more that could start operating in 2025) or third-party electric suppliers.

While deregulation benefited many commercial customers and municipal aggregation programs, third-party electric suppliers have been harming Massachusetts residents for decades, using unethical, deceptive and predatory sales practices to entice consumers before suddenly raising their electricity costs.

Since 2018, the Attorney General’s Office has detailed hundreds of millions of dollars in consumer losses at the hands of third-party suppliers. According to the latest 2025 report, “consumers lost approximately $73.7 million through competitive electric supply contracts between July 2023 and June 2024 for a total of $651.3 million lost over the nine years studied by the Office.”