How many electric cooperatives are in Massachusetts?

No electric cooperatives reported bundled retail sales in Massachusetts in EIA's 2024 data.

How many municipal and public power utilities are in Massachusetts?

40 — 40 municipal utilities — reported bundled retail sales in Massachusetts in 2024. The largest is City of Taunton, with 40,690 customers.

How do public power utilities and co-ops in Massachusetts buy?

Municipal utilities and public utility districts are local government entities, so they generally follow Massachusetts's public procurement laws, with purchases approved by a city council or utility board. Electric co-ops are private, member-owned nonprofits that set their own purchasing policies, though projects financed through USDA's Rural Utilities Service follow its rules. See how utilities buy.

Where does this data come from?

From the U.S. Energy Information Administration's table "2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales – Total" (Table 10), based on forms EIA-861 and EIA-861S. It counts customers who buy both electricity and delivery from the utility.

Massachusetts Public Power & Electric Co-ops: Full List

Key takeaways

40 community-owned utilities: 40 municipal utilities and 0 electric cooperatives reported bundled retail sales in Massachusetts in 2024.
Together they served 427,140 of the state's 1,448,912 bundled retail customers (29%); 4 investor-owned utilities served most of the rest.
The largest public power utility is City of Taunton, with 40,690 customers.

Every public power utility and co-op in Massachusetts

Ranked by bundled retail customers in 2024, with retail sales in megawatt-hours and average price in cents per kilowatt-hour. Names are as EIA abbreviates them. Filter by type or search.

Showing all 40 utilities

#	Utility	Type	Customers	Sales, MWh	Avg. price
1	City of Taunton	Municipal	40,690	596,200	20.97¢
2	Town of Reading	Municipal	30,700	638,948	14.22¢
3	City of Peabody	Municipal	27,086	469,249	16.08¢
4	City of Chicopee	Municipal	26,052	437,837	15.74¢
5	City of Westfield	Municipal	18,344	352,210	18.41¢
6	Town of Middleborough	Municipal	18,132	315,593	15.16¢
7	City of Holyoke	Municipal	17,966	381,807	14.97¢
8	Town of Shrewsbury	Municipal	16,986	279,248	13.58¢
9	Town of Braintree	Municipal	16,769	322,472	16.31¢
10	City of Norwood	Municipal	15,794	319,571	17.49¢
11	Town of North Attleborough	Municipal	13,896	213,939	15.61¢
12	Town of Wakefield	Municipal	13,663	161,595	20.72¢
13	Town of Hudson	Municipal	13,515	214,908	13.41¢
14	Town of Danvers	Municipal	13,492	291,374	14.64¢
15	Town of Belmont	Municipal	11,845	122,642	24.49¢
16	Town of Wellesley	Municipal	10,661	244,865	15.54¢
17	Town of Mansfield	Municipal	10,564	219,347	14.92¢
18	City of Hingham	Municipal	10,175	188,594	16.95¢
19	Town of Marblehead	Municipal	10,160	99,811	21.56¢
20	Town of Holden	Municipal	8,529	105,176	15.00¢
21	Town of Concord	Municipal	8,497	164,886	21.52¢
22	Town of South Hadley	Municipal	8,355	108,937	15.77¢
23	Town of Littleton	Municipal	7,596	223,291	13.97¢
24	Town of Ipswich	Municipal	7,209	111,943	18.10¢
25	Hull Municipal Light Plant	Municipal	6,193	47,318	18.97¢
26	Town of Groton	Municipal	4,979	72,859	17.69¢
27	Town of Sterling	Municipal	4,109	68,569	17.60¢
28	Town of Middleton	Municipal	4,030	98,129	15.28¢
29	Town of Templeton	Municipal	3,811	65,708	16.12¢
30	Town of West Boylston	Municipal	3,785	58,679	14.94¢
31	Town of Georgetown	Municipal	3,520	47,699	19.30¢
32	Town of Merrimac	Municipal	3,293	28,528	20.24¢
33	Town of Ashburnham	Municipal	3,205	34,964	19.05¢
34	Town of Rowley	Municipal	3,111	43,418	19.78¢
35	Town of Groveland	Municipal	3,022	34,177	20.65¢
36	Town of Boylston	Municipal	2,666	42,620	15.24¢
37	Town of Paxton	Municipal	1,964	23,429	17.25¢
38	Town of Princeton	Municipal	1,545	15,369	25.49¢
39	Town of Chester	Municipal	763	5,233	24.56¢
40	City of Russell	Municipal	468	4,865	18.58¢

Public power vs. co-ops in Massachusetts

Public power utilities — municipal utilities, public utility districts and state-owned utilities — are owned by the communities they serve and governed by a city council or elected board. They buy much like local governments: through public bids, board approvals and published budgets.
Electric cooperatives are private, not-for-profit utilities owned by their members, who elect the board. Most buy power from a generation and transmission (G&T) co-op and make purchasing decisions through their own policies, often faster than public agencies.

Both publish their plans: watch board and council agendas, budgets, capital improvement plans and rate filings. Our utility funding tracker and rate case & IRP tracker show where the money is coming from.

Selling to Massachusetts utilities

Start with the right person. Line, engineering, metering, IT and member-services managers usually define the need; the general manager or CEO and the board approve large purchases.
Use the networks. State public power and cooperative associations, joint action agencies and G&T co-ops shape purchasing and share vendor experiences.
Expect small teams. Many of the utilities on this list have only a handful of staff, so phone outreach and a clear reason to talk matter.

Read our guide to how public power, co-ops and water utilities buy, or see the largest public power utilities and largest electric co-ops nationally.

About this data

Source. EIA's "2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales – Total" (Table 10), from forms EIA-861 and EIA-861S. Average price is EIA's revenue divided by sales.
Bundled customers only. The table counts customers who buy both energy and delivery from the utility, so it excludes distribution-only utilities and customers who buy energy from another supplier in retail-choice areas.
Community-owned utilities only. This page lists municipal, public utility district, state-owned and cooperative utilities. Investor-owned and federal utilities are left out.

Sources

U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales – Total (Table 10): eia.gov

Public power utilities and electric co-ops in Massachusetts.