The state Public Service Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a three-year rate increase that will allow London-based electricity provider National Grid to raise average household natural gas bills by $33 a month starting next month.
Some consumer groups and climate activists spoke out against the increase. One group of them disrupted the hearing on Thursday shortly before the vote with signs reading “We will not be poisoned.” The groups want a significant reduction in natural gas consumption, infrastructure and spending.
After a short break, the six commissioners voted unanimously for the increase a few moments later.
PSC commissioners generally welcomed the rate plan, which was first filed in April 2023 and included tens of thousands of pages of documentation and public hearings for customers on Long Island and in New York City who also face similar increases. One PSC commissioner expressed reservations about the increase.
“I don’t want to vote yes,” said PSC Commissioner John Maggiore. “I don’t want to raise anyone’s rates. However, when I look at the paperwork, I don’t see anything that would justify a no vote.”
National Grid serves approximately 600,000 gas customers on Long Island.
Year-over-year, average residential gas bills on Long Island would increase $33.35 per month, or 22%, starting next month. In 2025, they would rise another $8.19 per month, or 4.39%, and in 2026, another $18.81 per month, or 9.17%. Cumulatively, average customers would pay a total of $1,622.88 more for gas service over the three years — $400.20 more in the first year, $497.48 in the second, and $724.20 more in the third.
The current average bill of about $150 per month for those using 83 Therms would rise to $183.35 per month in the first year, starting Sept. 1. The same bill would rise to $191.54 per month in the second year and $210.35 per month in the third year.
These rate increases assume that gas prices remain relatively stable over the three-year period. Higher gas prices, which typically increase in the winter, would increase bills proportionately, as would a colder winter, as bills would skyrocket with increased usage. Warmer weather generally mitigates these costs.
Natural gas prices have remained relatively stable this year and are even trending downward, according to data from National Grid. The cost of a therm of gas for average residential customers fell to 31.8 cents in August, down from 46.3 cents in July. Prices reached a high of 55 cents this year in January, but have been declining in six of eight months this year. The data also shows that gas costs hit a recent high of $1.08 per therm in September 2022.
National Grid said the additional revenue from the rate increase from Long Island customers – totaling $147.1 million in the first year, $163.1 million in the second year and $180.4 million in the third year – would be used for infrastructure improvements, including faster replacement of aging gas pipelines, more programs for low- and moderate-income customers and “enhanced” customer service and support.
In a statement, Phil DeCicco, general counsel for National Grid, said the company is “proud that this rate plan advances its commitments to ‘reliable service,’ ‘affordable energy,’ and a ‘transition to clean energy.'”
More than 1,000 people submitted public comments on the case, many of them criticizing the interest rate hike.
But hundreds of union members at National Grid, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Laborers union, largely supported the increase. Many letters said the rate increase would enable National Grid to “create hundreds of good-paying union jobs, make our communities safer and improve reliability by removing leak-prone pipes.”
Former LIPA trustee Jeffrey Greenfield, owner of NGL Group Insurance, argued that the PSC should tie any rate increase to better oversight of the company’s customer-facing employees. He noted that he sees them (National Grid employees) “across the street at McDonald’s every morning at the start of the workday” and asked, “Why can’t National Grid employees eat before they go to work?”
It’s not just National Grid’s prices that are rising. As Newsday reported, PSEG Long Island’s average electricity bills have risen in six of the last eight months — about half of a customer’s bill. This year, they’re up 16.6% month-on-month. In August, costs rose again, by 2.8%. In April, they fell by 12.75%.
Mark Harrington, a reporter for Newsday since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
