Massachusetts Statutes

Section 118. Meters for measuring electricity for lighting purposes supplied to consumers shall register the quantity of electricity passing through them in kilowatt hours, so that the number of kilowatt hours consumed may easily be ascertained by the consumer.

Section 119. No charge for the use of a meter or for other similar purpose covering any portion of twelve consecutive months in connection with the supply of gas or electricity for domestic use only shall be made by a corporation, other than a municipality, furnishing the same, i…

Section 119A. When a consumer is charged for gas or electricity at several rates according to the quantity used, his bill, to the extent that the gas or electricity is used for domestic purposes, shall be so itemized as to show the quantity charged for at each rate, and where the…

Section 12. All certificates of stock or scrip issued in violation of the preceding section shall be void; and the directors of the corporation which issues them shall be liable to a penalty of one thousand dollars each, to be recovered by indictment in any county where any of th…

Section 120. A customer of a corporation subject to this chapter, or such corporation, may apply to the department for an examination and test of any electric meter, demand indicator, so called, and any other device or appliance installed by such corporation upon a customer's pre…

Section 121. The person designated to make such examination and test may at any reasonable time enter upon the premises where the meter to be inspected is placed for the purpose of making the inspection. He shall receive such compensation for his services as the department may de…

Section 122. Whoever, being engaged in the sale of electricity, maintains upon the premises of a customer for the purpose of determining the charge to be made for electricity supplied to him a meter, demand indicator or other mechanical device or appliance which is found upon exa…

Section 123. All gas and electric companies using prepayment meters shall be responsible for the loss by fire of any money deposited in said meters.

Section 124. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a gas or electric company may stop gas or electricity from entering the premises of any person failing to pay the amount due therefor or for the use of the meter or instrument necessary to measure supply of service; and f…

Section 124A. No gas or electric company shall shut off or fail to restore gas or electric service in any residence during such time as there is a serious illness therein; provided, however, that a registered physician or the local board of health certifies in writing to the comp…

Section 124B. No gas or electric company shall shut off gas or electric service in any home for the reason that a person has failed to pay for an appliance purchased from such company.

Section 124C. No gas or electric utility intending to shut off gas or electricity in any licensed nursing home, home for the aged, convalescent home or hospital, shall do so without first giving fourteen days' notice in writing to the customer and to the department. Such utility …

Section 124D. No gas or electric company shall shut off gas or electric service to any tenant residing in a dwelling unit who, under a rental arrangement, receives the benefit of gas or electricity or heat, hot water, cooking or lighting, or any combination thereof, but who is no…

Section 124E. No gas or electric company shall shut off gas or electric service to any household in which all residents are sixty-five years of age or older, for failure to pay an outstanding indebtedness for said service without first complying with all rules and regulations of …

Section 124F. No gas or electric company shall between November fifteenth and March fifteenth shut off gas or electric service to any residential customer who cannot pay an overdue charge because of financial hardship, when such gas or electric service is used to provide heat or …

Section 124G. No gas or electric company which shuts off gas or electric service of a residential customer in compliance with the provisions of this chapter shall, upon receipt of full payment or such partial payment as such company deems satisfactory by such customer, fail to re…

Section 124H. No gas or electric company shall shut off gas or electric service in any residence in which there is domiciled a person under the age of twelve months provided that the customer cannot afford to pay any overdue bill because of financial hardship. The department may …

Section 124I. Any company found by the department to have wilfully violated sections one hundred and twenty-four A to one hundred and twenty-four H, inclusive, shall be assessed a penalty after a hearing by the department, in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars.

Section 125. A gas or electric company shall not refuse to supply gas or electricity for any building or premises to a person applying therefor who is not in arrears to it for any gas or electricity previously supplied to him, because a bill for gas or electricity remains unpaid …

Section 125A. A gas or electric company, generation company, wholesale generation company, or supplier which has been furnishing gas or electricity to the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, under a contract that has expired may, until a new contract for supplying …

Section 126. Whoever wilfully or fraudulently injures, disconnects, removes or otherwise interferes with, or suffers to be injured, disconnected, removed or otherwise interfered with, any meter, pipes or fittings belonging to a gas company or to any person, or prevents a meter fr…

Section 126A. Whoever falsely assumes, pretends to be or holds himself out as an officer or servant of a gas or electric company for the purpose of gaining access to any premises shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than two years or by a fine o…

Section 127. Whoever unlawfully and with intent to avoid payment by himself or another person for a prospective or previously rendered service the charge or compensation for which is measured by a meter or other mechanical device injures or destroys, or suffers to be injured or d…

Section 127A. Whoever unlawfully and intentionally injures or destroys, or suffers to be injured or destroyed, any meter, pipe, conduit, wire, line, pole, lamp or other apparatus belonging to a corporation, including municipal corporations which own municipal lighting plants enga…

Section 128. A corporation which has a franchise in and the use of the public streets of a town for the supply and distribution or only distribution, of gas, water, electric light or power, and which holds for a longer period than six months money which is collected in advance fr…

Section 129. The following words, as used in sections one hundred and thirty to one hundred and thirty-two, inclusive, unless the context otherwise requires, or a different meaning is specifically prescribed, shall have the following meanings:— ''Commissioner'', the commissioner …

Section 12A. A corporation subject to this chapter, and subject to the limitations and restrictions of section fourteen, may, by a vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outstanding and entitled to vote thereon at a meeting called therefor and with the approval of the de…

Section 13. A corporation subject to this chapter may, by vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outstanding and entitled to vote thereon at a meeting called therefor, or by vote of its directors under authority of a vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outsta…

Section 130. A municipal electric department is hereby authorized, upon a vote of its municipal light board, to participate in a fund and obligate itself, solely from its revenues and as an expense of such department, to pay actuarially-sound premiums or such other reasonable pre…

Section 131. A fund and the trustee shall have the rights and be subject to the legal responsibilities and obligations applicable to trusts and trustees under the General Laws, except to the extent such rights, obligations and responsibilities are in conflict with this chapter. T…

Section 132. A fund shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter, except as provided in sections one hundred and twenty-nine to one hundred and thirty-two, inclusive, chapter one hundred and seventy-four A, one hundred and seventy-four B, one hundred and seventy-five, one …

Section 133. As used in this section the following words shall have the following meanings:— ''Assistance'', all acts of an assisting utility conducted for or on behalf of a requesting utility. ''Domestic utility'', an electric or gas company as defined by section one, and includ…

Section 134. (a) Any municipality or any group of municipalities acting together within the commonwealth is hereby authorized to aggregate the electrical load of interested electricity consumers within its boundaries; provided, however, that such municipality or group of municipa…

Section 135. Any for-profit corporation, non-profit corporation, or quasi-public authority, organized pursuant to the laws of the commonwealth, is hereby authorized to establish a corporate retail load aggregator for the purpose of purchasing bulk electricity to serve affiliated …

Section 136. (a) Any number of persons may associate themselves together as a cooperative, with or without capital stock, for the transaction of any lawful business associated with the purchase, acquisition, distribution, sale, resale, supply, and disposition of energy or energy-…

Section 137. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, (i) any non-profit institution in the commonwealth or any agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the commonwealth, including the executive, legislative and …

Section 138. As used in this section and sections 139 and 140, the following words shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:— ''Agricultural net metering facility'', a renewable energy generating facility operated as part of an agricultural busine…

Section 139. (a) A distribution company customer that uses electricity generated by a Class I or Class II net metering facility may elect net metering as follows: (1) If the electricity generated by the Class I or Class II net metering facility during a billing period exceeds the…

Section 139A. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:— ''Small hydroelectric power net metering facility'', a facility with a nameplate capacity of 2 megawatts or less, using water …

Section 13A. A corporation subject to this chapter may, by vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outstanding and entitled to vote thereon at a meeting called therefor, or by vote of its directors under authority of a vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outst…

Section 14. Gas and electric companies shall issue only such amount of stock and bonds, and of coupon notes and other evidences of indebtedness payable at periods of more than one year after the date thereof, as the department may from time to time vote is reasonably necessary fo…

Section 140. A neighborhood net metering facility shall elect net metering as follows: (a) If the electricity generated by the neighborhood net metering facility during a billing period exceeds its kilowatt-hour usage during the billing period, the neighborhood net metering facil…

Section 141. In all decisions or actions regarding rate designs, the department shall consider the impacts of such actions on: (i) on-site generation; (ii) the replacement of gas infrastructure with utility-scale non-emitting renewable thermal energy infrastructure; (iii) the red…

Section 142. The department shall continue to remove any impediments to the development of efficient, low-emissions distributed generation, including combined heat and power and utility-scale non-emitting renewable thermal energy, taking into account the need to appropriately all…

Section 143. (a) For the purposes of this section, the term ''small municipal renewable energy generating facility'' shall mean a generating unit that is designed for, or capable of, operating at a gross capacity of less than 10 megawatts and that qualifies as a Class I renewable…

Section 144. (a) There shall be uniform natural gas leaks classification for all gas companies. (b)(1) Gas companies shall assess a grade to all reported natural gas leaks based on the system provided in this section. (2) A Grade 1 leak shall be a leak that represents an existing…