Massachusetts utility and heating bill assistance program guide
Massachusetts puts more of its utility help into customer rights than almost any other state. The regulated gas and electric companies are required to sell power at a discounted rate to income-qualified customers, required to forgive old debt through arrearage programs, and barred from winter shutoffs when a household certifies hardship. On top of those rules sit the programs people apply for: fuel assistance (HEAP) through a local agency, the Salvation Army's Good Neighbor Energy Fund, free weatherization, and free heating oil for oil-heated homes. This guide explains the statewide programs first, then the shutoff protections, then what each company offers, including Eversource, National Grid, and the smaller regulated utilities.
Heating is the center of the system because of how the state warms its homes. A large share of Massachusetts households heat with oil or propane, and those deliveries come from unregulated dealers, so the shutoff rules that protect gas and electric customers do not apply to an empty tank. The state built separate programs for that need. Fuel assistance pays oil and propane dealers directly, a repair program fixes or replaces broken heating systems at no cost, and a nonprofit delivers free oil to households that qualify. Each of those has its own section in this guide.
Timing matters more than anything else here. Fuel assistance applications open in the fall for a heating season that runs into spring, the charitable funds spend down as winter goes on, and a payment plan requested before a final notice beats anything available after one. Contact your utility and your local fuel assistance agency as soon as the bills stop being manageable.
- SCAM: Utility fraud and scams are a problem in Massachusetts. Any communication demanding immediate payment by gift card, wire, or a payment app are red flags. Always contact the utility companies’ customer service directly.
Fuel assistance and other statewide programs
HEAP — the fuel assistance program (the national LIHEAP benefit)
HEAP, formerly called LIHEAP, is the state's main heating grant. It pays part of the winter heating bill for income-qualified renters and homeowners, and the money goes straight to the utility, oil dealer, or propane dealer. People whose heat is included in the rent can qualify too. The grant does not have to be repaid, and receiving it provides the utility discount rate and free efficiency work automatically.
- The program is funded through the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and run by local agencies across the state. Applications open in the fall for a heating season that runs from November into the spring, and households apply again each year. Apply online at https://toapply.org/MassHEAP, or call the Massachusetts Heat Line at 1-800-632-8175 to find the agency for your city or town. Income limits, benefit levels, and the documents agencies ask for are explained in plain language in the NHPB guide to Massachusetts fuel assistance and weatherization.
Good Neighbor Energy Fund
The Good Neighbor Energy Fund exists for households that earn too much for fuel assistance but hit a temporary crisis anyway. The state's energy companies and their customers fund it, the Salvation Army runs it, and the grant is paid directly to the energy provider. Eligibility targets incomes moderately above the fuel assistance cutoff, and the applicant must not qualify for the government programs. Apply at your local Salvation Army Corps Community Center - see the NHPB Salvation Army page for local options. The center list is also at https://magoodneighbor.org/, or call 1-800-334-3047 in eastern Massachusetts area codes and 1-800-262-1320 in the 413 area code.
Discount rates and debt forgiveness at every regulated utility
Two forms of help are built into Massachusetts utility regulation itself. First, every regulated electric and gas company sells to income-qualified customers at a discounted rate, and state regulators are moving the companies to a tiered system in which the discount grows as income falls. Second, every regulated company runs an arrearage management program, usually shortened to AMP, that erases a portion of an old past-due balance each time an enrolled customer pays the current month's budgeted bill on time.
- Receiving a fuel assistance grant or a benefit such as SNAP, SSI, or MassHealth is the usual application point to both. The company entries in this guide give the contact for each. Households on the discount rate cannot be shut off during the winter protection period, which is covered in the shutoff section of this guide.
Free weatherization and efficiency work
Income-qualified households can get insulation, air sealing, and related work done at no cost, which lowers every future bill instead of paying one. The work runs through the same local agencies that handle fuel assistance, alongside the Mass Save income-eligible program that the utilities fund. Homeowners and renters can both apply. Call your fuel assistance agency, call the income-eligible energy line at 1-866-537-7267, or start at https://www.masssave.com/.
RAFT — help when utility debt threatens your housing
Residential Assistance for Families in Transition is a state homelessness prevention program, and overdue utility bills count as a housing crisis it can pay. RAFT can help a household facing eviction or an unmanageable number of bills in arrears rather than one late bill. Apply through the regional Housing Consumer Education Center for your area (website: https://masshousinginfo.org/), reachable at 1-800-224-5124, or through the central RAFT application on mass.gov.
Joe-4-Sun solar discounts
Citizens Energy, the Boston nonprofit founded by Joseph P. Kennedy II, runs Joe-4-Sun, which uses community solar projects to put monthly credits on the electric bills of income-qualified Eversource and National Grid customers. There is no equipment to install and no cost to join. Details and the sign-up form are at https://citizensenergy.com/our-programs/joe-4-sun/. The same organization's free heating oil program appears in the oil section of this guide.
Heating oil, propane, and broken furnace help
Oil and propane households need this section most, because deliverable fuels sit outside the utility shutoff rules. A dealer can simply decline to deliver, so the help has to arrive before the tank is empty.
Emergency deliveries through fuel assistance
A HEAP grant can pay an oil or propane dealer directly, and the local agencies can authorize emergency deliveries for enrolled households that are nearly out of fuel. Call your fuel assistance agency the moment the gauge gets low rather than the day it hits zero. The Heat Line at 1-800-632-8175 connects you to the right agency.
HEARTWAP — heating system repair and replacement
HEARTWAP fixes what fuel assistance cannot: the furnace or boiler itself. The program cleans, repairs, and when necessary replaces heating systems for fuel-assistance-eligible households, year round, at no cost. It is the answer when the heat is off because the equipment failed rather than because a bill went unpaid. Apply through the same local agency that handles your fuel assistance application.
Households that heat with oil can also cut the price of every future delivery. The NHPB guide to free home heating oil covers charity and dealer programs across the state, and a separate NHPB page explains discount heating oil buying networks and co-ops.
Shutoff protections every Massachusetts customer should know
These rules apply to the regulated gas and electric companies. They do not apply to oil dealers or to municipal light plants. None of them erase the debt, and each one requires paperwork, so ask your utility for the correct form the day a shutoff notice arrives.
- Winter protection. A regulated company cannot shut off heat-related gas or electric service for nonpayment from the middle of November to the middle of March when the household submits a financial hardship form, and the state frequently extends those dates. The protection is not automatic. Ask the company for its hardship form and return it immediately.
- Serious illness. When a doctor, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner certifies that someone in the home has a serious or chronic illness, service cannot be shut off and must be restored. Mental health conditions count. The letter protects the account for a set period and can be renewed while the illness continues.
- A baby in the home. A household with an infant under twelve months and a financial hardship cannot be shut off, and service already off must be turned back on. A birth certificate or similar document proves the child's age.
- Everyone in the home is 65 or older. A company cannot shut off an all-elderly household without written permission from state regulators, which is rarely even requested. Ask the company for its elderly protection form.
- When a company will not follow the rules. Call the Department of Public Utilities Consumer Division at 617-737-2836 or toll free at 1-877-886-5066. The division, at https://www.mass.gov/orgs/consumer-division, resolves billing and shutoff disputes with the regulated companies.
- Third party notification. Any customer can name a relative, friend, or agency to receive copies of past-due and shutoff notices, which keeps a missed letter from becoming a missed warning.
Dialing 211 remains an option when nothing in this guide fits, since the operators track small church and town funds that no statewide list includes.
What each utility company offers
Berkshire Gas
Berkshire Gas serves the Berkshires and parts of the Pioneer Valley. Call 1-800-292-5012 or see https://www.berkshiregas.com/account/waystopay/help-with-bill. The NHPB guide to Berkshire Gas assistance has the longer version: Berkshire Gas assistance programs.
- Discounted residential rates: Income-qualified customers receive reduced delivery charges on heating and non-heating accounts, with eligibility tied to the fuel assistance income limit or a means-tested benefit.
- RAMP: Berkshire's arrearage program forgives past-due gas balances step by step as enrolled customers make on-time payments. Enrollment runs through the fuel assistance agency serving Berkshire County, so ask for it when you apply for heating help.
- Free efficiency work: Heating customers who qualify by income can receive insulation, air sealing, and related measures at no cost through the statewide income-eligible efficiency program.
Eversource
Eversource is the state's largest utility, serving electric and gas customers across eastern Massachusetts, greater Boston, and the western counties, and it absorbed the former NSTAR, Western Massachusetts Electric, and Columbia Gas of Massachusetts territories. Customer service and program information: 1-866-861-6225, or https://www.eversource.com/residential/account-billing/payment-assistance and select Massachusetts. The NHPB guide to Eversource assistance covers the full program list.
- Discount Rate: Income-qualified customers with the bill in their name pay a substantially reduced rate on electric and gas accounts. Proof of a means-tested benefit or a fuel assistance grant qualifies you, and the application is available online or through your local fuel assistance agency.
- RAMP debt forgiveness: The Residential Arrearage Management Program sets a monthly budget payment from your average bill, and each on-time payment erases a slice of the old balance, with the whole debt gone in about a year of steady payments. Enrollment protects the account from shutoff. The balance must be at least sixty days past due.
- New Start: The former name of the same forgiveness program still appears in older materials, so a customer who asks about New Start reaches RAMP.
- Payment plans and budget billing: Extended installment plans and level monthly billing are available to any residential customer who calls before the account reaches a final notice.
- Free efficiency work: Discount Rate customers can receive a free home energy consultation with installed measures, arranged through the fuel assistance agencies and Mass Save.
Liberty Utilities
Liberty delivers natural gas in the Fall River and North Attleborough areas, in the territory once known as New England Gas. Liberty customers have the same regulated rights as the larger companies: a low-income discount rate, an arrearage management program, and the winter and medical protections described in the shutoff section of this guide. Liberty also sponsors the Good Neighbor Energy Fund for its customers. Program details and contact numbers are at https://massachusetts.libertyutilities.com..
National Grid
National Grid delivers electricity across central Massachusetts, the Merrimack Valley, and the South Shore, and natural gas across much of the state, including the former Boston Gas, Colonial Gas, and Essex Gas territories that once operated as KeySpan. Customer service: 1-800-322-3223, weekdays. The company also staffs a consumer advocacy team for hardship cases at 1-800-233-5325. The NHPB guide to National Grid help goes deeper.
- Tiered Discount Rate: National Grid moved its Massachusetts electric discount to an income-tiered system, with the deepest discounts for the lowest-income households. A qualifying benefit gets you the base tier, and a fuel assistance application through your local agency assigns the higher tiers automatically.
- Arrears Management Program: Customers on the discount rate with a balance more than sixty days past due can enroll, keep paying an affordable budgeted amount on time, and watch the company retire part of the old debt every month. Call 1-866-580-7617 to enroll. No down payment is required while the account is still active.
- Special protections desk: National Grid takes its hardship, medical, infant, and elderly protection forms online and by mail, and its site walks through the documentation each one needs.
- Free weatherization: Income-eligible customers can arrange no-cost weatherization through 1-866-537-7267.
- Payment plans and budget billing: Standard installment plans and level billing are available by phone to any residential account.
Unitil
Unitil, operating as Fitchburg Gas and Electric, serves electric customers in Fitchburg, Ashby, Lunenburg, and Townsend, and gas customers across north central Massachusetts. Customer service: 1-888-301-7700, or https://unitil.com. The website also has a more extensive guide - see the NHPB Unitil program page.
- Discount Rate Program: Households at or under the fuel assistance income limit who receive a qualifying benefit pay a flat percentage less on electric and gas service. Enrollment starts with a phone call, and the company mails the application to finish it.
- Arrears forgiveness: Discount rate customers with a balance more than sixty days overdue can enter the arrearage program and have portions of the old balance retired as on-time budget payments come in.
- Fuel assistance partner: Making Opportunity Count in Fitchburg handles fuel assistance and discount rate approvals for the Unitil area, and the company runs an annual outreach effort with the United Way of North Central Massachusetts.
- Budget billing: Level monthly payments smooth the winter spike for any residential customer.
Municipal light plants - assistance programs vary by community
About forty Massachusetts cities and towns run their own electric departments, from Taunton and Braintree to Reading and Hudson. Municipal plants are not covered by the DPU shutoff rules or the mandated discount and arrearage programs, but many run their own help voluntarily.
Littleton Electric Light Department, for example, credits part of the base charge for senior and disabled customers, reachable at 978-540-2222, and several others, including Middleborough Gas and Electric and North Attleborough Electric, have run senior discounts of their own. Every municipal customer can also apply to the Good Neighbor Energy Fund, which North Attleborough's department promotes directly at https://www.naelectric.com. Call the number on your bill and ask two questions: whether the department offers a discount or payment plan, and which local fund it recommends when a customer falls behind.
Massachusetts moderated utility assistance forum
Residents trade notes on these programs in the NHPB community forum, including how long fuel assistance took at specific agencies, which Salvation Army centers had Good Neighbor money left, and what worked when a company resisted a protection form. Reading the recent posts can save a phone call, and new questions get answers from people who have been through it. The thread is the Massachusetts utility assistance forum topic. The forum is moderated and free.
Watch for utility payment scams
Impostor calls are a constant problem in Massachusetts, and the big utilities post standing warnings about them. The caller claims to be Eversource or National Grid, says a crew is on the way to shut off service within the hour, and demands immediate payment by gift card, wire, or a payment app. Real companies do not collect that way, and the shutoff process in this state runs on written notices, not surprise phone deadlines. Hang up and dial the number printed on your actual bill. The NHPB guide to avoiding fraud and scams covers the wider patterns.
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