BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey said she is open to a ban on competitive electric suppliers in Massachusetts, an industry that supporters say promotes consumer choice but critics argue locks customers into contracts that can eventually lead to higher energy bills.

The first-term Democrat has long railed against the competitive electric supply market as one that overcharges consumers and violates consumer protection laws. After a radio interview Wednesday, Healey said she will “support efforts to hold them accountable.”

“I think I would,” she said when asked if she would support a bill this year to ban the industry. “I have before. But I really view that as something … the attorney general would file as rate payer advocate and protector of consumers.”

An effort to bar competitive electric suppliers from signing up new residential customers, leaving them with only commercial consumers, was dropped from a major climate bill Healey signed last year. Attorney General Andrea Campbell also supported the Senate-backed language.

The issue could surface in the 2025-2026 legislative session after Healey accused the competitive energy industry earlier this week of “overcharging customers and flagrantly violating consumer protection laws” amid high energy bills.

Healey said the Department of Public Utilities has started to examine “potential regulations” to protect customers from this predatory industry.”

“Gov. Healey will continue to advocate for a solution to the harms brought by this industry. There is potential to save Massachusetts $335 million over five years,” her administration said in a statement.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Healey said “too many people” sign up for competitive electric supply only to “end up paying boatloads more later down the line.”

“It sounds good in the beginning, and then they end up paying much higher bills than they would have paid if they just stuck with the utility. So to me, it’s still about affordability. It’s still about protecting consumers and protecting ratepayers,” she said.

A report released last year by Campbell’s office found that individual residential customers who switched to and received their electric supply from competitive suppliers over the previous eight years paid $577 million on their electric bills than they would have if they stayed with basic services.

Between July 2022 and June 2023, utility basic service rates in some areas of the state were more than double the previous highs because of “unprecedented volatility in the energy markets,” Campbell’s office said.

That should have created a “perfect opportunity” for the industry to deliver savings to residential customers, the attorney general said.

“Instead, customers who signed up with an electric supplier realized only $30.4 million in net savings for the year, a number that is dwarfed by the significant net losses experienced in every other year studied,” Campbell’s office said.

But a report released this year by the Retail Energy Advancement League, a group that supports the industry, said local competitive energy suppliers offered “an average lowest monthly fixed rate” in 2024 that was five cents cheaper than the collective average charged by the seven utility companies.

More than 425,000 residential customers were enrolled with a competitive energy supplier as of June 2024, according to the organization.

Retail Energy Advancement League CEO and President Chris Ercoli said consumers are “handcuffed” to what their utility providers want to charge them without competitive energy suppliers.

“Having the ability to shop for your own energy –– and the type of energy you want supplied –– frees consumers of utility privilege that holds them hostage because of their zip code. As we continue to see increases in daily costs to live, retail energy is delivering alternatives to Massachusetts residents and opportunities to save,” Ercoli said in a January statement.

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