Eversource bills were the focal point of a recent Springfield City Council’s Maintenance and Development Subcommittee meeting.
Reminder Publishing screen capture
SPRINGFIELD — Residents and government officials across the state have spent the last few weeks fighting for a review of recent energy rate increases by investor-owned utility companies like Eversource and National Grid.
That fight continued during the Springfield City Council’s Maintenance and Development Subcommittee meeting on Feb. 24, where members of that committee gathered with residents over Zoom and in a packed City Hall hearing room to sound off on the recent “unprecedented spikes” in peoples’ energy bills across the state.
Two representatives from Eversource were also in attendance over Zoom to answer any questions about the recent spikes and to listen to concerns from the subcommittee and residents. The goal of the meeting was to hopefully find a way to reduce the burden people face due to these costs.
“We all know the purpose of this meeting,” said City Councilor Malo Brown, the chair of the Maintenance and Development Subcommittee. “Eversource prices are too high.”
A common concern raised by residents and officials across the past couple weeks and during this meeting was the astronomical delivery fee represented in their Eversource bills.
One Forest Park resident, David Pleet, expressed discontent about the fact that the delivery charge on his Eversource bill is almost double the actual gas charge. During the subcommittee meeting, he shared that 61% of his total Eversource gas bill in 2023 comprised of the delivery fee charge, while 66% of his total bill in 2024 constituted that charge.
In 2023 specifically, Pleet said he paid $840 for his gas charge and $1,300 for the delivery fee alone.
“You’re paying almost twice as much for delivery of gas as you would for the gas itself,” Pleet told the subcommittee. “And that’s an increase when Eversource noticed a huge jump in their profits.”
Pleet was the not the only one from the crowd to illustrate their own personal struggles due to these alarming increases. Sandra Collins, a Springfield resident of 29 years, said she moved from a 3,300-square-foot house to a newer 1,300-square-foot home and lowered her thermostat to 58 degrees to decrease the supply cost on her bill.
She told the subcommittee that the supply cost did indeed decrease, but the delivery cost essentially stayed constant between January 2022 and January 2025.
“As a widow, I could have moved anywhere, but I chose to stay in Springfield,” Collins said. “It’s time for Springfield and the commonwealth to help me out.”
During the meeting, Richard Chin, a rates manager for Eversource, said that delivery rate charges are much higher than the supply charges on Eversource bills because delivery charges include funding for programs designed “to help customers beyond just the pipes that are used to bring gas to your home.”
He also added that volumetric rates are used for delivery and supply, which means both charges increase based on usage. Because this year’s winter has been colder than the past couple years, Chin said more natural gas is being used for heating, even if people do not adjust their thermostat setting, because the furnace works harder against colder outside temperatures.
“This much colder weather driving increased usage, coupled with the rate adjustments that took effect in November 2024, are the primary factors impacting customers’ current bills. How much energy a customer uses ultimately impacts both the supply and delivery portions of the bill,” Eversource spokesperson Priscilla Ress said in a statement to Reminder Publishing a couple weeks ago. “It’s important to note that even if customers do not raise their thermostats, more energy is used to maintain the same temperature setting in colder weather.”
Chin also talked about how Eversource’s acquisition of Columbia Gas contributed to higher rates. In 2020, Eversource purchased the utility company’s natural gas assets in Massachusetts for $1.1 billion after Columbia accepted responsibility for a 2018 disaster, when over-pressurized pipelines caused explosions and fires in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover.
Eversource found that investments needed to be made to bring Columbia’s system up to standards based on a safety assessment that was done when Eversource acquired the utility company.
“When [Columbia Gas] exited the state, we took it over, rates were frozen and we agreed to upgrade the system,” Chin said. “But we needed to eventually bring those rates higher in order to meet the investments that we put into the [Columbia] system.”
Immediately following the subcommittee meeting in Springfield, Eversource and National Grid proposed a 10% cut to Massachusetts gas bills for March and April just a few days after the Department of Public Utilities ordered energy companies to cut gas rates by 5%. However, those charges will be deferred to off-peak months, meaning bills will be slightly higher for that season, which begins in May.
During the Maintenance and Development Subcommittee meeting, Brown suggested that maybe Springfield can look at alternatives, like possibly creating the city’s own power and utilities in a similar vein to what places like Holyoke and Westfield have done.
In response to that suggestion, Springfield DPW Director Chris Cignoli said that installation of the city’s own electric and gas would likely cost up to $300 million. He added that the city would also have to recreate the same programs Eversource has to help lower residents’ bills, and they would have to figure out who will put in the city’s own gas mains.
“We can do a study on it, but I think you’re looking at astronomical numbers,” Cignoli said.
While that route remains a hypothetical, residents and government officials are continuing to fight what many see as a growing monopoly in the utilities realm. Eversource said during the meeting that they have available programs people can use to help lower their bills and they also planned an in-person assistance event at the Raymond A. Jordan Senior Center on March 18 from 1-3 p.m., but councilors and residents feel more needs to be done because residents, especially those in lower income communities, are struggling to balance their livelihood.
City Councilor Maria Perez said there are families in her ward unable to serve a decent dinner to their children because of the high rates.
“I have families that have been evicted,” Perez said. “This is a reality of life that I deal with every day.”
City Councilor Jose Delgado said it breaks his heart how residents must keep their thermostats under 60 degrees because of these high rates and suggested that the Springfield City Council write a letter to the state to demand them to better streamline access to programs that can help residents.
“Nobody should be having to keep their temperature even 62 degrees, let alone 55,” Delgado said. “We’ve got to find a way to get some solutions today.”
City Councilor Victor Davila echoed his colleagues’ sentiments and said Eversource needs to do more than just a two-hour assistance event to help people. He suggested that Eversource become more approachable and available to people.
“This is not only about the programs; this is about reducing the bill,” Davila said. “This is not sustainable.”
