Preparing for Winter, Putting Massachusetts Customers First

Winter in Massachusetts puts energy at the center of everyday life. Families turn up the heat, daylight hours grow shorter, and businesses depend on reliable service to keep their doors open.

National Grid offers a range of assistance programs, payment options and personalized support to help customers find the solutions that work best for them. From payment assistance and discount rates to budget billing, arrears forgiveness and energy-saving resources, customers have access to tools designed to help make energy costs more manageable.

To explore bill assistance programs, payment options, energy-saving resources and winter preparedness tools, visit ngrid.com/hereforyou.

Every household faces different challenges as winter approaches. Some customers may need help paying a bill, while others are looking for ways to better manage monthly expenses, reduce energy use or learn about programs they may be eligible for.

With colder weather on the horizon, National Grid is encouraging customers to act early. Through Customer Assistance Events held across Massachusetts, trained Consumer Advocates work one-on-one with customers to answer billing questions, explain available programs, determine eligibility for support such as HEAP and connect households with resources that fit their needs. At select events, real-time translation tools help ensure language is not a barrier to accessing assistance.

Customers who have fallen behind on payments may qualify for programs that help reduce past-due balances, while others may benefit from Budget Billing, which spreads annual energy costs into predictable monthly payments. National Grid's Payment Assistance Bundle combines several of these solutions into a single package that can help customers manage ongoing energy costs while paying down outstanding balances.

For customers heating their homes with qualifying heat pumps, National Grid offers a seasonal heat pump rate that can provide significant winter savings compared with the standard residential electric rate. Approximately 71,000 National Grid customers in Massachusetts were enrolled in the rate as of September, with individual savings varying based on electricity usage and the type of heat pump installed. National Grid is also implementing new tiered discount rates for income-eligible customers, helping ensure that those who need assistance most receive greater relief on their monthly energy bills.

The message is simple: don't wait until winter bills arrive to explore available support. A conversation today could uncover resources that help make energy costs more affordable throughout the heating season.

Managing winter costs starts at home. Drafts, poor insulation and inefficient equipment can increase energy use and make it harder to stay comfortable during colder months.

As a Sponsor of Mass Save®, National Grid helps customers access home energy assessments and efficiency improvements that can reduce energy waste and improve comfort. Depending on eligibility, customers may qualify for insulation, air sealing and other upgrades, including no-cost improvements for income-eligible households.

Small actions can also make a difference, from sealing drafts and maintaining heating equipment to adjusting thermostat settings and monitoring energy use. Combined with available digital tools, financial assistance programs and payment options, these resources can help customers lower energy costs and prepare for winter.

Winter readiness also requires continued attention to the gas network that serves homes and businesses across Massachusetts.

National Grid is replacing aging, leak-prone gas mains with modern infrastructure. Some of the pipes beneath Massachusetts streets have served communities for more than a century. As those pipes deteriorate, they can become more vulnerable to leaks and require repeated repairs.

Repairing a leak addresses an immediate problem, but replacing deteriorating pipe addresses its underlying condition. This work helps reduce the risk of future leaks, limit emergency repairs, support reliable service, and reduce methane emissions.

Investments also extend to facilities that help maintain service during periods of high demand. In Haverhill, National Grid is investing $10.4 million in a new control building at its liquefied natural gas facility. The project will provide updated monitoring, communications, cybersecurity and operational tools. The facility supplies additional natural gas during the coldest winter days, when customers need it most.

For customers, the purpose of these investments is practical: dependable energy to heat a home, prepare dinner, operate a business and keep daily life moving.

While customer support helps households prepare financially, National Grid’s electric system investments help prepare communities for winter weather.

That work begins long before snow or ice appears in the forecast. Crews inspect and maintain equipment, strengthen infrastructure and manage trees near power lines. National Grid invests annually in tree trimming and hazard tree removal in Massachusetts, addressing a major source of outages before severe weather arrives. Storm preparation also includes positioning crews and equipment where they can respond as conditions develop.

Technology is making that response faster. National Grid is expanding automated equipment that can identify a problem, isolate the damaged section of a circuit and reroute electricity where possible. Known as Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration, or FLISR, this technology can restore service to many affected customers in seconds while crews address the damage.

In 2025, FLISR helped prevent more than 80,000 service interruptions in Massachusetts and avoided more than eight million minutes of customer outages. For customers, that means less time with the lights out and fewer disruptions to work, school and daily routines.

National Grid is also installing electric smart meters across Massachusetts. Along with modernizing metering, these investments give customers access to more detailed information about their electricity use, helping them understand when they use energy and identify opportunities to make changes.

These efforts support a broader modernization of the electric system, including infrastructure and technology needed to accommodate changing energy demand, electric heating, electric vehicles, solar and battery storage. Planning for those needs helps National Grid target improvements as communities grow and the ways customers use energy evolve.

No one can predict exactly what a Massachusetts winter will bring. But preparation can help customers manage seasonal costs and help the energy system perform when conditions are most demanding.

Customers deserve clear information about help with their bills and the work being done in their communities. As winter approaches, National Grid is focused on both: connecting customers with assistance today and strengthening the gas and electric systems they will depend on for years to come.