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Massachusetts electricity cost: third-highest price, and no cheap fuel behind it
Massachusetts is the hardest household energy case in EIA's mainland tables. Residential electricity averaged 29.35¢ per kWh in 2024 — third-highest in the United States, behind only Hawaii (42.86¢) and California (31.97¢) — and the July 2026 snapshot held at 30.49¢. Usage was low, just 570 kWh a month, yet the average bill was still $167.20, 18% above the U.S. average of $142.26. And unlike states where one expensive fuel is offset by a cheap one, Massachusetts pairs that electricity price with delivered natural gas at $21.90 per Mcf — the most expensive piped gas in New England — plus heating oil and propane at clear national premiums.
| Massachusetts at a glance | Figure (with source period) |
|---|---|
| Average electricity price (2024) | 29.35¢ per kWh — U.S. average 16.48¢ |
| Latest monthly snapshot (July 2026, preliminary) | 30.49¢ per kWh |
| Average electricity use (2024) | 570 kWh per month — U.S. average 863 kWh |
| Average monthly electric bill (2024) | $167.20 — U.S. average $142.26 |
| New England division price (July 2026) | 28.00¢ per kWh (six-state blended) |
| Natural gas, residential delivered (2024) | $21.90 per Mcf (about $2.11 per therm) — U.S. average $14.50 |
| Heating oil / propane (week of Oct 19, 2026) | $6.115 per gallon / $3.659 per gallon — U.S. averages $6.190 / $2.689 |
Enter your own monthly kWh and price them at the Massachusetts average — then run the same usage at the U.S. average to isolate the price premium.
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The 570 kWh figure is the familiar Northeast signature — older, smaller homes; heating carried by gas, oil and propane rather than the electric meter; modest air-conditioning loads — and RECS shows what the full household picture costs: New England homes used 89.9 MMBtu of site energy a year and spent $2,539 per household, the highest divisional spending average in the country. Massachusetts sits at the expensive end of even that region: its 29.35¢ electricity price is the highest in New England (Connecticut 28.75¢, Rhode Island 28.65¢, Maine 24.29¢, New Hampshire 23.40¢, Vermont 21.90¢), and its $21.90 gas price is the region's highest as well. One mechanical point from EIA's method deserves repeating here, because it applies with force in a low-use state: the published average price is total residential revenue divided by total kilowatt-hours, so fixed monthly customer charges are spread over only 570 kWh a month, pushing the blended per-kWh figure above the energy rate on any single tariff. The figure is correct as an average revenue measure; it simply will never match one household's rate sheet.
The fuel contest nobody wins cheaply
Put the Massachusetts fuels on one heat basis and the dilemma is plain (all arithmetic on EIA's published prices and conversion factors, before equipment efficiency). Electricity at 29.35¢ costs about $86.02 per million Btu. Delivered gas at $21.90 per Mcf costs about $21.12 per million Btu — the cheapest heat in the state despite being New England's priciest gas, which is why gas conversions remain attractive even at $2.11 a therm. Heating oil at $6.115 a gallon costs about $44.15 per million Btu (at 138,500 Btu per gallon), and propane at $3.659 costs about $40.01 per million Btu (at 91,452 Btu per gallon). A heat pump delivering two to three units of heat per unit of electricity lands between gas and oil on this arithmetic — competitive with the delivered fuels, behind gas — and EIA's Winter Fuels Outlook prices the outcome for the Northeast this winter at $879 for gas-heated homes, $1,637 for electricity and $1,687 for propane, with oil-heated homes nationally at $2,115. Home EV charging reprices just as sharply: $17.61 for a 60 kWh charge and $97.83 per 1,000 miles at the labeled 3.0 miles-per-kWh assumption, from this site's EV guide — nearly double the national figures of $9.89 and $54.93.
Reading the Massachusetts numbers honestly
Two cautions govern every figure on this page. First, the July 2026 snapshot (30.49¢) is a single preliminary summer month from the Electric Power Monthly, not a new annual average; the annual Table 5A figure is the year-level comparison. Second, state averages blend Boston apartments with rural oil-heated farmhouses — the $167.20 bill describes the statistical middle of that mix, never a specific home. What the averages do establish, unambiguously, is the ranking: on price, Massachusetts electricity and gas both sit at or near the top of the national tables, and no alternative fuel in EIA's data offers its households a cheap escape. The state-level starting point remains our Massachusetts state guide; this page is the electricity deep-dive behind it, and our New England page covers the six-state region.
Sources: EIA — Electric Sales, Revenue & Average Price 2024, Table 5A (Form EIA-861) · EIA — Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (July 2026) · EIA — Natural Gas Annual 2024, Table 23 (Form EIA-176) · EIA — Heating Oil and Propane Update (week of October 19, 2026) · EIA — Winter Fuels Outlook, October 2026 · EIA — Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) 2020, Table CE1.1 · EIA Btu conversion factors (138,500 Btu/gal heating oil; 91,452 Btu/gal propane; 3,412 Btu/kWh). Last verified: October 2026 — energy prices move with seasons and markets; confirm the current rate on your own bill.
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Massachusetts energy costs (state guide) · New England energy costs · Connecticut electricity cost in depth · Heat pump vs gas furnace · Electricity prices & average bills by state