AEC: National Grid Rate Hike Plan Meets Stiff Opposition

CBS reports that National Grid is looking to increase bills by $16 per month for the average customer, noted the American Energy Coalition. National Grid’s president said the rate hike is necessary because there is a large discrepancy between what the state allows the company to collect and the increasing expenses it faces, according to the CBS report.

National Grid wants to charge more to deliver natural gas into downstate New York homes, and residential gas bills could increase by about $192 a year for its 560,000 customers in Nassau and Suffolk, and 1.1 million customers in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, CBS reports.

Chris Widelo, spokesman for the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), said the $146 million natural gas delivery charge rate hike is unaffordable for many senior citizens on fixed incomes. “We just have not seen good evidence as to why there needs to be a rate increase, period,” Widelo told CBS. Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine called the rate hike “unjustifiable” and added, “How do you raise gas prices when natural gas is the lowest it’s been in the last 20 years?”

To read more about this issue and for a link to the original CBS report, visit American Energy Coalition.org. To become an AEC member/supporter press the “Make a Donation” button to make a secure online contribution.