Gov. Maura Healey is asking Eversource, National Grid and Unitil to tell the state by Oct. 27 when they will start paying back an estimated $1.5 billion in transmission refunds owed to electric customers across New England. The money traces to a federal ruling that found the companies earned too much on their power lines.
Healey’s Oct. 13 letter asks for a payback schedule, a count of what Massachusetts customers are owed and an explanation of how the money will reach them. No schedule has been announced.
What the governor asked the utilities to hand over
The letter asks the three companies to return Massachusetts customers’ share right away and to work with ISO New England, the grid operator, and the other transmission owners to begin issuing refunds now. By Oct. 27, Healey wants three things in writing: an accounting of what Massachusetts customers are owed, a schedule for payment, and the process for getting the money to them.
Oct. 27 is a date the governor set, not a legal deadline. The official federal deadline for finishing the refunds is May 20, 2027, and Healey argues customers should not have to wait that long.
Anyone who pays an electric bill in Massachusetts through Eversource, National Grid or Unitil is the person this request is about. The state has not said whether a refund would arrive as a bill credit, a check or a lower rate. That is exactly the “process” Healey wants spelled out.
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Where the $1.5 billion comes from
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, known as FERC, issued Opinion No. 594 on March 19, 2026. It set the base profit rate that New England transmission owners may earn, called the return on equity, at 9.57%. The order reaches back years, so customers who paid the higher rate are owed the difference.
Trade press reported the earlier rate was 10.57%, and that FERC did not accuse the companies of wrongdoing. It concluded the old rate was too high. The refund total of about $1.5 billion is an estimate for all of New England, not a figure for Massachusetts alone.
The Massachusetts governor’s office says the ruling followed more than a decade of work by the attorney general’s office, first under Healey and now under Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. Campbell said that “now it’s time for customers to get their money back.”
The refunds are only half of the dispute. The same release says the utilities have asked FERC to raise their base return on equity from 9.57% to 11.39%, and that Healey joined the governors of all six New England states in urging FERC to reject the increase. If FERC said yes, future transmission costs would be higher than the rate behind the current refunds.
Nothing in the state’s announcement says that request has been decided. For customers, the two fights pull in opposite directions: one could return money for past overpayments, the other could raise what the lines cost going forward.
How much each company owes, and what nobody has said yet
Utility Dive reported that Eversource’s share is about $880 million, spread across its Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire utilities. A Jefferies estimate put National Grid’s share near $260 million. Those are company totals across states, so they cannot be read as what Massachusetts households will see.
The state release gives no per-household refund amount, and it does not break out a Massachusetts total. Unitil’s share has not been published in any of the pages that carry the $1.5 billion estimate. Until the companies answer the governor, the size and timing of a bill credit for any one home stay unknown.
The delay has a history. FERC first required refunds within 30 days, the companies and ISO New England asked for more time, and the governor’s office says the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied their attempt to delay. The deadline then moved to May 20, 2027.
What Healey has said about winter bills
Healey’s letter says “Further delay is unacceptable” and urges the companies to end their appeal and begin issuing refunds without further delay. She also wrote that as winter arrives, residents are rightly worried about high energy bills. NBC Boston reported no formal response from Eversource, National Grid or Unitil to the letter.
The governor’s office says Healey has also declared a State of Energy Emergency and announced nearly $150 million in winter bill relief. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said customers have waited too long and that people are struggling. For a household on a fixed income, the practical gap is simple: the refund has no start date, and the heating season does.
The utilities have until Oct. 27 to answer the governor, and May 20, 2027 is the outer limit set by FERC. A refund that arrives in spring would not help with the January bill. Anyone who has already fallen behind on an electric or heating bill has more than the refund to think about this winter.
Behind on winter electric bills while the refund waits?
The refund question and the winter bill question are two separate problems. A schedule can slip to May 20, 2027, while a high January bill is due on its own date, and a household that misses an application window for heating help does not get that month back.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit turns to the second problem. It lays out heating, cooling and home-repair help for older homeowners and includes an application log and renewal calendar, so each program, date and follow-up sits in one place. Part 5, Utilities and Home Costs, is built for exactly this kind of winter squeeze.
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 21 Ways Retirees Can Raise $1,000 Fast Without a Job
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
