Massachusetts is a national leader in energy efficiency in part due to its requirements for utilities to provide efficiency programs. It also gives utilities shareholder incentives of up to 5% of program costs for meeting certain goals. The state’s largest utility and Residential Network member, National Grid, has set aggressive goals in its latest three-year efficiency plan, which include saving customers $3.6 billion and investing nearly $850 million in electric energy efficiency and more than $382 million in natural gas efficiency.

National Grid created a customer solutions group to implement new technologies and programs to accomplish these goals. In the city of Worcester, the utility installed 15,000 smart home meters, some of which include an in-home display giving customers insight to their usage, rates, and times when the utility needs to ramp down demand. Read more about National Grid’s efficiency goals.