The past year has seen growing momentum for on-site battery storage across the northeast. In Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, utilities and regulators have been racing to incentivize battery deployments to stabilize the grid and manage electricity prices amid a looming supply crunch – and unsurprisingly, Scale has found lots of businesses interested in taking advantage of these incentives to get ahead of rising utility rates and grid reliability issues.

Massachusetts is very much part of the trend, with a unique triple stack of value streams that encompasses utility rates and programs as well as state incentives – and that can turn into a quadruple stack of value for businesses that opt for a solar-plus-storage microgrid. Based on our analysis, it can all add up to a potent value proposition for many businesses, and Scale's service agreement model turns it into straightforward, day-one energy savings, with none of the up-front costs or complexity.

Intrigued? Let's break it down.

How does the monthly coincident peak rate class cut bills?

Massachusetts recently introduced a monthly coincident peak rate class, which is an optional rate offered by National Grid and Eversource that charges businesses based on their energy use during each month's highest hour of demand on the grid. For businesses that can use batteries to duck those twelve monthly hours, we project savings of 10-15% on electricity bills.

This presents such a major savings opportunity because a business's coincident peak charges are typically based on their energy use during the highest hours of grid demand of the entire year – typically a hot summer day – and that “coincident” energy use is translated into a fixed charge that the business has to pay every month for the following year. Because the new rate gives businesses the opportunity to minimize their contribution to maximum grid demand every month, it can add up to significantly greater savings… if businesses have the flexibility to tap into on-site batteries during those monthly hours.

How it works: Businesses will pay a monthly coincident peak charge based on their energy use during the previous month's highest demand hour on the grid. To reduce this charge, businesses can use batteries to reduce their use of the grid during that peak hour every month – if they can anticipate when that hour is, since the utility doesn't provide advance notification.

What it's worth: We project that businesses able to reduce their demand during all 12 monthly coincident peaks over the year could save 10-15% on their electricity bills.

How much can batteries earn from ConnectedSolutions?

ConnectedSolutions is a demand response program administered by Massachusetts utilities under the MassSave initiative that pays batteries $200 per kW of average summer performance for supporting the grid during hours of peak demand. For a typical business-sized battery microgrid, that can translate into annual revenues worth tens of thousands of dollars.

A similar program is also available in Connecticut, and Scale is deeply familiar with the considerable value it can create – in fact, we've worked with more than a dozen businesses to secure these incentives, accounting for over half of the total statewide participation.

How it works: From June through the end of September, batteries must dispatch to the grid when called upon by their utility. These “energy-sharing events” occur between 3 PM and 8 PM for up to 3 hours at a time, and individual batteries will not be called on more than 60 times per year.

What it's worth: Participating customers are eligible for annual payments of $200 per kW of battery capacity, and this rate is locked in for the first five summers after enrollment. With most businesses installing batteries sized in the hundreds of kilowatts or more, this translates into tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual value.

What are Clean Peak Energy Certificates worth?

The Clean Peak Energy Standard (CPS) is a Massachusetts incentive program created in 2020 that pays clean resources – including batteries charged primarily by solar – for delivering power during periods of highest grid demand, with certificate prices effectively capped by the program’s Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) of $65 per MWh. The program's aim is to replace the fossil fueled “peaker” plants typically used to meet those peaks.

This is accomplished with a mechanism based on the very successful Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) model, under which utilities are required to purchase an escalating percentage of their electricity demand from renewable sources. Under the CPS, they must purchase an escalating percentage of their peak demand from “clean” sources or else purchase equivalent ACP credits.

How it works: Utilities in Massachusetts must purchase Clean Peak Energy Certificates (CPECs) generated by Clean Peak Resources, which include batteries charged primarily by solar as well as demand response – i.e. the reduction of a facility's demand during peak hours, which can be facilitated by a battery. The percentage of peak demand that must be met with CPECs is currently at 7.5%, and rises every year to reach over 50% by 2050.

What it's worth: As with the market for Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) used to meet RPS requirements, there is no fixed price for CPECs. However, recent auctions have shown certificates selling close to the ACP, which rose to $65 per MWh in 2026 and will remain at that level through 2032.

What does the SMART program add for solar-plus-storage?

The Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program pays solar projects a fixed rate for their generation, boosted by a storage “adder” when a battery is attached – a fourth value stream for businesses that pair the two. Battery storage and solar power have always been a winning combination, and SMART's recently launched “3.0” third round makes this duo even more dynamic, adding new incentives to pair storage with solar installations and requiring it for larger installations.

How it works: Solar projects applying for the program receive fixed rates for their solar generation, which decline for each round of applications. For projects paired with batteries, this amount is increased by a storage adder; notably, all solar installations of 1 MW or greater are also required to be paired with storage in order to facilitate the integration of these large variable loads into the grid.

What it's worth: Base-level solar incentives are set according to installation size, and program year 2026 rates range from $0.2807 per kWh for 25-250 kW systems to $0.1790 per kWh for 1-5 MW systems. When paired with a battery, this rate is boosted by a storage adder that is calculated based on a ratio of the battery and solar capacity installed.

How can Massachusetts businesses capture all this value?

The ability to stack up all of these lucrative value streams – monthly coincident peak savings, ConnectedSolutions revenues, and CPS and SMART incentives – makes Massachusetts one of the best states for businesses to add a solar-plus-storage microgrid to their facility. And that doesn't even take into account the baseline utility bill savings that solar and storage can provide, or the automated, near-instantaneous backup power that batteries can provide during grid outages.

However, as you might guess from reading this far, capturing all this value isn't exactly simple. Predicting the monthly coincident peaks requires specialized expertise; managing ConnectedSolutions dispatch requires seamless utility integration; and navigating CPS auctions and SMART applications requires regulatory legwork… And that doesn't even take into account the inherent complexity of designing, building, and operating a battery system, let alone a battery system that's integrated with solar or other distributed energy assets.

Scale's business is all about making it easy for companies to take advantage of the tremendous value of distributed energy technologies like batteries and microgrids. Our fully financed microgrid service agreement (MSA) model makes Scale responsible for managing all the complexities of designing and operating your system, monetizing these incentives, and maximizing the value they create – and our customers just get (much) lower energy costs and more reliable power supply from day one, all for $0 up-front.

Ready to see how much value a battery could stack up for your facility? We can generate a quick, free estimate using our proprietary project analysis platform – reach out to get started today.