Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XXII Chapter 164
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 164, § 92 (2026)

Right of user to gas or electricity

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 92. On written petition of any person, having a residence or place of business in a town where a corporation is engaged in the manufacture, transmission or sale of gas or the distribution of electricity, aggrieved by its refusal or neglect to supply him with gas or electricity, the department may, after notice to the corporation to appear at a time and place therein named to show cause why the prayer of such petition should not be granted, issue an order directing and requiring it to supply the petitioner with gas or electricity, upon such terms and conditions as are legal and reasonable; provided, however, that if such corporation is engaged in such town solely in the transmission of gas such order shall not be made where it appears that compliance therewith would result in permanent financial loss to the corporation. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, in determining whether to issue an order directing a corporation to supply a petitioner with gas service, the department shall consider: (i) whether the grant of the petition is in the public interest, including the public interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and complying with the limits and sublimits established pursuant to chapter 21N; and (ii) whether, in the totality of the circumstances, the petitioner can secure adequate substitutes for gas-fired services for space heating, water heating and cooking appliances which, in the case of space heating, may include thermal energy that provides heating or cooling without combustion. The department may, in order to advance the public interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and complying with the limits and sublimits established pursuant to said chapter 21N, order actions that may vary the uniformity of the availability of natural gas service.

Grants of locations in the streets, lanes and highways of such town for the pipes or lines necessary to the supplying of gas or electricity in pursuance of such an order by a corporation solely engaged as aforesaid shall be subject to the provisions of sections eighty-six to ninety-one, inclusive.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 6 cases, 1922–1981 · leading case: The Salisbury Water Supply Co. v. Town of Salisbury, 167 N.E.2d 320 (Mass. 1960).
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The Salisbury Water Supply Co. v. Town of Salisbury, 167 N.E.2d 320 (Mass. 1960). · cites it 2× “208) that, since *45 the department had taken jurisdiction of the application (see G. L. c. 164, § 92, and c. 165, § 2), the Superior Court’s jurisdiction of the bill in equity was 1 *‘ ousted.”
Cambridge Elec. Light Co. v. Dep't of Pub. Utils., 295 N.E.2d 876 (Mass. 1973). “36 We have traced this to “constitutional right,” but G. L. c. 164, § 92 (see point D [1] above) might well be held a “provision of the General Laws” requiring agency hearing when demanded by the customer in the face of an actual or threatened discontinuance of service.”
City of Boston v. Edison Elec. Illuminating Co., 136 N.E. 113 (Mass. 1922). “” It was held that the action of the respondent denying the petition because no public interest required that it should be granted, and “some positive disadvantages to the public interest” might follow if an order was made, should not be disturbed and the petition was dismissed.”
Town of Salisbury v. Salisbury Water Supply Co., 181 N.E. 194 (Mass. 1932). “Nothing in the words of the statute makes the existence or nonexistence of a contract of the water company with the applicant or with any other water taker or person desirous of obtaining water a condition of action by the department.”
Commonwealth Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Inhabitants of the Town, 2 Mass. Supp. 850 (Mass. App. Ct. 1981). · cites it 2× “Request #6 — Court’s Jurisdiction In its brief and arguments, the defendant’s position is that the plaintiff must first exhaust its remedies before the Department of Public Utilities, and short of the exhaustion of administrative remedies the courts are without jurisdiction.”
Commonwealth Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Inhabitants of the Town of Shrewsbury, 1981 Mass. App. Div. 228 (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div. 1981). · cites it 2× “It is true that pursuant to G.L.c. 164, § 92 a person refused electric service may petition the Department of Public Utilities to order the supplier to render service and that the petition is the exclusive remedy to obtain the denied service.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.