Oil country
Around Worcester, gas lines thin out. Sixty-one percent of homes in Holden heat with oil, 59 percent in Leicester and 56 percent in Auburn. In Leicester only 6 percent heat with gas. A house with no gas line usually has an electric water heater or one that runs off the boiler.
Worcester itself is different. Half the city heats with gas, and only 37 percent of its housing is single-family.
Municipal light rebates
Shrewsbury, Holden and West Boylston each have their own electric company, and each pays up to $500 toward a heat pump water heater in 2026. In the other towns Mass Save's $750 rebate applies.
The number on this page rings a plumber based in Millbury.