Are you paying the lowest possible rate for electricity?

Since 2024, DPU has streamlined and expedited its review process, leading to the accelerated approval of 47 new plans. Customers enrolled in those newly approved plans are projected to save anywhere from $2 to $18 every month, compared to the basic service rates offered by National Grid, Eversource, and other investor-owned electric utilities.

Here’s what you should know:

I’ll use my own experience to illustrate. I am a National Grid customer, but my city is now in the middle of a three-year contract with what’s known as a competitive supplier, which means a supplier other than one of the investor-owned utilities. The supply rate negotiated by my city is 13.8 cents per kilowatt-hour.

National Grid’s current basic service rate is 15.38 cents per kilowatt-hour, so I’m paying a penny and a half less, a savings of about 10 percent. Last month, I used 361 kilowatt-hours (the average customer uses substantially more, about 500 kilowatt-hours per month). My aggregation plan thus saved me $5.78 last month. Yeah, I know, not a huge savings. But I’ll take it.

Yes, under state law, electric utility customers, including municipal aggregation plans, can choose a competitive electricity supplier while their utility continues to deliver the electricity and maintain infrastructure such as poles and wires. Customers still receive a single electricity bill; in my case, from National Grid. Customer service is uninterrupted.

No, supply only. And electricity delivery costs, including fees for energy efficiency programs like Mass Save, are much higher than supply cost. In my case, almost two-thirds of my monthly bill pays for delivery and mandatory energy efficiency program fees, with the remaining one-third going for supply.

No, mine doesn’t. It’s the same rate for the duration of the contract. National Grid’s rate, however, does change every six months, with winter rates higher than summer. To be fair, National Grid’s rate sometimes dips below some municipal aggregation rates in the summer. But energy researchers say municipal aggregation rates are below the big utility rates about 70 percent of the time, producing a net savings to consumers of about 10 percent. The DPU says total savings to consumers is in the tens of millions of dollars. If you decide to scrutinize your most recent electricity bills, keep in mind that you are getting a 25 percent overall reduction for February and March; 15 percent of it is financed by the state and 10 percent is in deferred payment.

One way to find out is to check “supply services” on your bill. I’ve been on a municipal aggregation rate for months without realizing it. When I looked back at my bills while working on this column (yes, I download them monthly), I noticed “community electricity” replaced National Grid as my listed supplier in August 2024. The supplier listing is so inconspicuous on bills that many consumers, like me, may not know they are buying from a competitive supplier via a municipal aggregation plan. If your municipality doesn’t have an aggregation plan, maybe you can get the ball rolling by asking questions at city or town hall.

No. But many plans are opt-out, rather than opt-in. That means the municipality will put you in the plan unless you affirmatively opt out. Municipalities want the highest possible participation in their plans to help leverage lower prices with competitive suppliers. Residents who have negotiated contracts with competitive suppliers on their own can’t join municipal plans unless they break their contract, which may trigger an early termination penalty.

It has been more than 25 years since the state deregulated the electricity grid. You now have a choice when buying electricity. You can buy it from one of the big utilities like National Grid or from a competitive supplier. The state operates a well-organized website that lists dozens of competitive suppliers, along with their prices and contract terms (be wary of early termination fees). You can shop on the website as an individual purchaser. Or you can find out if your city or town has a municipal aggregation plan and join it. Roughly half of residential customers in Massachusetts get their electricity from a municipal aggregation plan.

You may get a low price on your own. I’ve talked with consumers who say they have managed well going solo. But it requires a certain amount of time and concentration that many of us lack. Municipalities, by contrast, are administratively better positioned to do the work required. Individuals also risk signing a contract with a supplier based on an attractive “starter rate” only to have it balloon and wind up costing more — sometimes substantially more — in the long run. At least one competitive supplier is now being sued in a class action lawsuit for allegedly making misleading claims. And the state attorney general’s office has compiled a stack of reports saying individual customers of competitive suppliers have grossly overpaid for electricity.

Yes, in my plan, the lowest “basic” rate contains the state’s minimum requirement of renewable energy, which is 69 percent. The “standard” rate is the default, meaning consumers in my city automatically have this rate unless they opt out. It contains a higher percentage of renewable energy — 79 percent — and costs 3 percent more than the basic rate. To get 100 percent renewable energy, consumers in my city can opt into the “premium” rate, which costs 10 percent more than the basic price.

Got a problem? Send your consumer issue to sean.murphy@globe.com. Follow him @spmurphyboston.