MIDDLEBORO — Middleboro residents can now qualify for discounts on their gas and electric bills based on household income as well as age.

Residents who have already been income-qualified for any of 15 programs can apply with Middleboro Gas and Electric to receive a discount on gas and electric rates. 

Those programs include fuel assistance, food stamps, school breakfast and lunch, public housing, Head Start, MassHealth, and others. A complete list and a simple application can be found at mged.com/158/Billing-Discounts. Residents over age 65 can also continue to apply for a discount.

For those who qualify, gas and electric rates will be discounted up to 5 percent off the standard residential rates. Once approved, residents will also have 30 days, rather than 10, to qualify for the standard prompt payment discount of 15 percent on electric and 10 percent on gas.

Since 2019 Sustainable Middleborough has been advocating at commission meetings and in meetings with staff for a low-income discounted rate. Most utilities in the country have such rates, but few municipal utilities do.

“We want to commend the commission and staff for taking this step,” Sustainable Middleborough leader Kimberly French said at the May  Middleboro Gas and Electric Commission meeting. “Middleboro is an environmental justice community, and we also have a large low/moderate-income population throughout town. For people who may be choosing between heat and food in the winter, this is the right thing to do.”

“This discount,” Middleboro Gas and Electric General Manager Jacqueline Crowley said at the meeting,“will be quite substantial in colder weather for gas and hotter weather for electric. It does improve as your energy usage gets higher.”

Sustainable Middleborough also urged the utility for a speedy rollout of two other programs: a zero percent interest loan program for energy retrofits, such as whole-house insulation and efficient heating/cooling systems; and a new rebate structure with much larger incentives for the town’s low/moderate-income residents. 

Residents in surrounding towns that use the MassSave program are eligible for zero interest HEAT loans and 75% rebates on insulation costs with no cap. Middleboro’s current insulation rebate is for 50% of insulation cost, with a cap of $1,000.

Middleboro Center has been identified as an Environmental Justice Community by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs based on income. The median household income for the 1,751 residents in the district is less than 65 percent of the state’s median income. The town as a whole also falls under the state median income of $89,026.