Nearly 2 million local National Grid customers could be seeing red over hefty proposed rate hikes pushing them to get more green.
The natural gas and electric utility giant has proposed gas-use increases of 17% for its New York City residential customers and 16% for Long Islanders, with the company blaming inflationary costs and government green-energy requirements.
That means the typical bill for residents in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens would jump by $30.95 per month, National Grid estimated.
The average customer on Long Island and the Rockaway Peninsula could see a bill increase of about $28.52 a month.
National Grid, which provides only gas to customers in downstate New York, said it is proposing to phase in the increases over “multiple years to better manage customer bill impacts.”
The utility says it needs a total of $414 million more from city customers and $228 million from Long Island ratepayers to make “investments to enable the company to deliver safer, more reliable and cleaner energy.”
The state Public Service Commission — whose members are appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul — will hold hearings before voting on whether to approve the rate hike or something less, likely early next year.
The proposed rate hikes, if approved, would start taking effect April 1, 2024.
But if the PSC’s previous actions are any indication, it will likely lower the hike sought by National Grid, which says it serves 20 million customers in New York and Massachusetts.
“State regulators pore over the utility’s books to identify ways to cut costs,” PSC spokesman James Denn told The Post in a statement Tuesday.
“Nothing about a utility’s rate case is taken for granted or assumed.
“For the major electric and gas utilities, the approved rates after this process are nearly always dramatically lower than what is requested, due entirely to this time-tested stakeholder review process.
“The Department will continue to act to buttress affordability in New York.”
National Grid blamed state and federal mandates and climate-change policies as partly responsible for its fat-pitched hike.
“Approximately 70% of the proposal is driven by federal and state safety mandates, as well as increased property taxes and the costs to deliver expanded energy efficiency and other demand reduction offerings necessary to meet State climate targets,” National Grid NY Vice President Philip De Cicco said in a release defending the increase.
“We’re determined to build a better energy future while keeping energy as affordable as possible.”
The proposed rate hike comes as Hochul and the state Legislature have agreed to ban gas stoves in all new housing construction to reduce greenhouse emissions, thus requiring the use of electric stoves.
Meanwhile, a city Climate Change emissions law that kicks in next year is forcingco-op and condo owners to shell out millions of dollars in upgrades to replace old oil and gas boilers with cleaner electric heat or potentially millions of dollars in fines. A coalition representing co-op and condo owners living in 800,000 apartments is calling the edict the largest unfunded mandate in city history and is backing a proposed state law that would offer tax breaks to mitigate the costs.
Consumer advocates blasted National Grid’s proposed rate hikes, including the Public Utility Law Project — noting that the other city utility provider, Con Edison, previously proposed its own double digit rate hikes that also are under state review — 12% over three years for residential electric customers and 20% for natural-gas customers.
“New York has an energy affordability crisis already, and this potential rate hike would exacerbate that, especially for NYC customers who will see their Con Ed bills go up significantly next year,” said PULP’s Legal Aid rep, Andrew Saavedra.
“Rate increases of these magnitudes have a devastating impact on ratepayers, in particular low- and fixed-income households, and are unreflective of the financial realities of the current economic climate.”
PULP noted that 187,000 National Grid-NYC and 51,000 National Grid-LI households are 60 days or more behind on their gas bills and collectively owe the utility $150 million-plus.
National Grid emphasized its commitment to implement new clean energy projects, curbing greenhouse emissions and reducing energy consumption to comply with New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
The gas utility said it reduced power usage and emissions through new weatherization programs and replacing old gas main lines and leaky pipes.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
