Massachusetts is one of the few states where a home battery has a published, recurring payment attached to it rather than a one-time rebate. The Mass Save ConnectedSolutions program pays $275 per kilowatt for a battery’s average contribution during summer events — up to $1,375 a year on a typical 5-kW system, every year you stay enrolled.
That is a real number from the program itself, not a projection. What follows is how the payment is earned, what the utility can and cannot do to your battery, and the conditions that decide whether the math works at your house.
How the payment is calculated
You are not paid for owning a battery. You are paid for what it delivers during summer events, averaged across the season.
The rate is $275 per kilowatt of average contribution. A battery that reliably delivers 5 kW across the season earns roughly $1,375 for that year. A battery that is frequently empty when an event starts averages lower and earns less. This is why sizing and how you use the battery day to day matter more here than in a rebate program — the payment follows performance.
What an event looks like from inside your house
Usually, nothing. The battery discharges to the house and the grid; your lights, your air conditioning and your appliances run as normal. The program’s limits are published and worth knowing before you sign up, because they bound exactly how much the utility can ask of you.
- Season June 1 through September 30.
- Time of day 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. — the summer peak window.
- Weekdays only Non-holidays.
- Frequency No more than 60 events per summer.
- Length A maximum of three hours per event.
Who can enroll
Three conditions, all published by the program.
First, you have to be an existing customer of a participating sponsor: Eversource, National Grid or Cape Light Compact. Second, the battery’s inverter has to be under 50 kW — which every residential system is. Third, the equipment has to be on the qualifying list.
The program accepts batteries three ways: newly installed alongside solar, added to a solar array you already own, or standalone with no panels at all. That last case matters in Massachusetts, where plenty of homes have a roof that is shaded, north-facing, or simply too new to want holes in.
- Qualifying inverter manufacturers Enphase, Emporia, Fortress Power, FranklinWH, Generac PWRCell, Outback/Sonnen, Panasonic, QCells, Sol-Ark, SolarEdge, Sunnova and Tesla appear on the program’s current list.
- Existing solar counts Adding storage to an array you already own is the cheapest way into the program, because the expensive electrical work is already done.
- Standalone is allowed No panels required. The battery charges from the grid off-peak and discharges during events.
Does enrolling cost you your backup power?
No, and this is the question we get asked most.
Backup and dispatch are separate functions. During an outage, the battery islands your home and runs your backed-up circuits — that behaviour is unchanged by enrollment. During an event, the battery discharges on purpose while the grid is still up.
The one thing to get right at install is the reserve floor: the percentage of stored energy the system will not spend on an event, held back for outages. Set it sensibly and you keep meaningful backup all summer. Set it at zero and you can find yourself at 6 p.m. on a stormy August evening with an empty battery. We set this deliberately and explain the trade-off rather than leaving it on a default.
Where the math actually lands
The payment is meaningful, and it is not the whole case for a battery. A $275-per-kW annual payment offsets part of a system that also does three other things: it carries you through outages, it lets you store your own solar production instead of exporting it, and it shields you from the summer peak rates that are the reason the program exists in the first place.
Whether those four things together justify the cost depends on your roof, your usage curve, your utility and how long you plan to stay in the house. That is a twenty-minute conversation with your bills in front of us, not a number we can put on a web page honestly.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the Massachusetts battery program pay?
$275 per kilowatt for a battery’s average contribution during summer events. For a system delivering a typical 5 kW, that is up to $1,375 per year of participation.
How often will my battery be called on?
No more than 60 times per summer, on weekday non-holidays between June 1 and September 30, in the 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. window, for a maximum of three hours per event.
Which utilities participate?
Eversource, National Grid and Cape Light Compact are the sponsors listed for the residential battery program. You must be an existing customer of one of them.
Do I need solar panels to join?
No. The program accepts a battery installed new with solar, added to existing solar, or standalone with no solar at all. The inverter has to be under 50 kW and the equipment has to be on the qualifying list.
Will I lose backup power during an event?
Not if the system is configured properly. A reserve floor holds back a set percentage of stored energy that events cannot touch, so backup capacity survives the summer. The floor is a setting, and it should be chosen deliberately at install.
Can I leave the program?
Enrollment is per program year and the payment is per year of participation. The battery is yours regardless — leaving the program ends the payments, not your ability to use the equipment.
Related pages
- How whole-home battery backup works
- Residential solar installation
- Solar in Chelsea, Massachusetts
- How batteries keep the lights on
- Ways to lower your electric bill
- New Jersey’s proposed home battery program
- Where we work
- Common questions about solar and storage
See what your Massachusetts bill and battery would do
Bring your last twelve months of Eversource, National Grid or Cape Light Compact bills. We will show you what your summer peak usage looks like, size a battery against it, and put the program payment next to the real cost so you can see the whole picture at once.
Free, about twenty minutes, no obligation.