CFREE Tip #8: Electricity Rate Cuts for Lincoln and for Heat Pump owners

Good news about the cost of electricity - two rate cuts are coming! One benefits everyone enrolled in Lincoln’s Green Energy Choice program; the other benefits those who heat their homes fully or partially with heat pumps.

To understand these two changes, it’s helpful to know that your electricity bill includes two parts, called Supply and Delivery.

• Supply refers to the generation of electricity (e.g., from wind turbines, solar panels, burning fossil fuels, etc.). In Lincoln, you may choose your Supply from Lincoln Green Energy Choice (LGEC), Eversource, or third-party suppliers.

• Delivery refers to the distribution and transmission of electricity, from where it is generated to your home. (It also includes charges for other items, such as the MassSave energy efficiency program.)  In Lincoln, Delivery is provided only by Eversource.

Lower Supply rates coming in January for Lincoln Green Energy Choice participants

Lincoln Green Energy Choice (LGEC) is a Community Choice Aggregation program, through which the town negotiates long-term rates for electricity Supply.  It offers three options, allowing you to trade off the level of renewable energy vs. cost. (CFREE encourages you to “opt up” to the 100% Green option if you have not already done so, because for a modest cost increase, you will substantially reduce how much your electricity usage contributes to global climate change.)

Starting in January, those enrolled in any of the three options will have their electricity Supply price drop by about a penny per kilowatt-hour (kWh), as detailed in the table below. This stable pricing will remain in place through 2027.

Lincoln Green Energy Choice’s Supply rates in cents per kWh
			Current (thru January 2026)	Coming (thru December 2027)
Option	% green	cents per kWh	% green	cents per kWh
Basic	29%	14.631	32%	13.731
Standard Green	71%	16.093	77%	15.409
100% Green	100%	17.348	100%	16.119

For more info about the Lincoln Green Energy Choice program, including rates and how to enroll or change your option, go to https://www.masspowerchoice.com/lincoln/prices#new.

Lower Delivery rates coming in November for heat pump users

Starting November 1, Eversource will offer a lower Delivery rate for those who heat their homes fully or partially with heat pumps. This is a new incentive intended to encourage people to switch to using heat pumps, which have substantially less negative climate impact than heating with (A) furnaces burning fossil fuels or (B) electric resistance heaters in baseboards or space heaters.

The cost reduction can be substantial. Eversource calculates that for example, a current heat pump customer using an average of 1670 kWh per month during the winter could save about 23% on their winter utility bills, about $744 per winter billing season.

If you already use one or more heat pumps, you may already be automatically enrolled by Eversource to get the benefit of the new rate, or you may need to apply.  If you need to apply, the sooner you do so, the sooner you can start saving! To find out more, go to  https://www.eversource.com/residential/account-billing/manage-bill/about-your-bill/rates-tariffs/heat-pump-rate

Note that heat pump owners can be enrolled in LGEC for Supply and also qualify for Eversource’s heat pump rate for Delivery.

Questions? 

Contact Lincolngreencoach@gmail.com. Among other services, we can help you decide if adding heat pumps would be a good move for you. 

CFREE (Carbon Free Residential - Everything Electric) is a subcommittee of the Lincoln Green Energy Committee. CFREE provides guidance on how households can reduce use of fossil fuels and decrease greenhouse gas emissions to help Massachusetts meet statewide emissions limits set for 2030, 2040, and 2050. It also provides information about state and federal incentives that help reduce the cost of such changes. For guidance on such projects at your home, contact: Lincolngreencoach@gmail.com. For more information visit: www.lincolngreenenergy.org.