Frequently Asked Questions

Due to the nature of a time-based rate, a number of the charges that make up the rate change throughout the year to reflect seasonal ratios. 

The hours that are designated as on-peak, mid-peak, and off-peak may need to be adjusted in the future but are not expected to change frequently.

Keep an eye on your bill messages for any upcoming changes.

Typical rate change dates for NH Time-of-Use rates are as follows:

Delivery-related Rates:

• External Delivery Charge – June 1, August 1, December 1
• Distribution Charge – June 1, December 1

Supply-related Rates:

• Energy Service Charge - February 1 (beginning in 2024), June 1, August 1, December 1

Typical rate change dates for MA Time-of-Use rates are as follows:

Delivery-related Rates:

• Transmission – January 1, June 1, December 1
• Distribution Charge – January 1, June 1, December 1
• Distributed Solar Charge (SMART) – January 1

Supply-related Rates:

• Basic Service Charge - February 1 (beginning in 2024), June 1, August 1, December 1

Both Whole House* and Electric Vehicle Time-of-Use Rates utilize the same time periods and the same on-, off- and mid-peak electric rates. The difference is that the Whole House rate applies to all the energy consumption in your home, where the EV Time-of-Use rate applies only to the consumption used for EV charging.

Customers do not need to get EV Time-of-Use to charge their EV if they have Whole House Time-of-Use, but they may choose to keep their home on the standard rate and charge their EV on a separate EV Time-of-Use meter.

*Whole House Time-of-Use Rates are currently only available to New Hampshire residential customers.

Customers who choose to opt-in to Time-of-Use rates are committed to a 12 month term on those rates. After 12 months, customers may choose to return to the standard service rates.

The lines on the map represent Unitil’s overhead and underground distribution system from the substation out to the nearest ‘load serving’ transformer in your neighborhood. You may recognize these transformers as the metal cans that sit atop utility poles, though they may also be pad mounted in places where lines are underground. Secondary lines and services from each of these transformers down smaller streets and into homes are not included on the map. Green means that the lines are energized, orange means that there is a reported outage in the area, and red means that the outage is confirmed. In some rare cases, an area may show as blue on the map because of advance knowledge of a future outage. In these cases, check Unitil.com for more information as there may be unique system conditions.

We believe providing customers with real-time information when an outage occurs helps create a greater understanding of how the electric system works, and what we are doing to restore power. With this upgrade, you see what we see. The new map also gives us additional communication tools we can utilize in the event of a regional energy issue, such as controlled outages directed by ISO-New England.

The map shows all Unitil lines up to customer load serving transformers. However, secondary lines, or lines that feed from these transformers out to homes and some smaller streets in more rural areas, are not included. It is possible for a small, local outage on these secondaries to not impact green lines. However, abubble would still appear on the map to represent this outage.

During some outages, we may be able to perform a partial restoration and restore a portion of the customers impacted. In this case, some of the impacted area may turn green again after it has been restored, separating the bubble that represents the outage from the red or orange lines that represent the customer still out. In this case, crews are continuing to work the outage to restore the remaining customer

No, we still need you to report your outage. Direct customer reports are still the best and most efficient means of ensuring your outage is in the system. You can report your outage online at Unitil.com or by calling out Customer Service Center.

Payments made with Commercial and/or Corporate Credit Cards incur a 2.65% processing fee. This ensures that the fees related to Commercial and/or Corporate credit card processing are not passed on to customers who use alternative payment methods and do not require this service.

This processing fee is being administered by the third-party credit card firm that Unitil uses to process customer payments made by one of these credit card types. Unitil uses a third-party firm for credit card processing to ensure that personal identification information remains secure and encrypted for our customers. This change ensures that the fees related to Commercial and/or Corporate credit card processing are not passed on to customers who use alternative payment methods and do not require this service.

Please note that personal credit cards and electronic checks will not incur this fee. For a full list of convenient ways to pay, please visit our Billing & Payment Options webpage.

If you have any questions regarding the best payment option for you in the future, please feel free to reach out to our customer service team.

Unitil offers Electric Vehicle (EV) Demand Charge Alternative Rates to medium (GD-2) and large (GD-3) commercial customers in Massachusetts. New EV charging stations tend to have low utilization until usage ramps up. The EV Demand Charge Alternative may help commercial customers save on demand charges.

For more information, read the tariff or view the rate summary.