National Grid customers may be looking at higher rates a year from now.
The utility, which has customers in much of Upstate New York including in Western New York, says that it has filed a proposal to increase delivery rates for electricity and natural gas starting in April of next year.
The proposal would result in a monthly increase of $11.23 for an average residential customer and $10.38 a month more for natural gas customers.
National Grid says it is open to phasing in the new rates over some years to ease the impact.
The utility says that energy bills have been stable for more than a decade, and they say the increases would allow the company to modernize its electricity and gas networks to enhance reliability.
The proposed increases will be reviewed by the NYS Public Service Commission.
The PSC issued a statement which said:
Part of the rate case process is to ensure that it is not business-as-usual for utilities and to obtain, consistent with REV, (the state's Reforming the Energy Vision plan), more capital efficiency and energy efficiency as part of utilities’ plans to modernize the grid and ensure reliability affordably. With that the rate filing will be subject to a rigorous 11-month statutory review process. The purpose of the review will be to ensure National Grid’s rates remain just and reasonable. This detailed review will include a careful and close examination of the company’s proposal by Commission staff, as well as by other interested parties, including National Grid’s customers, and ample opportunities for public comment and public hearings. At the end of the review process, the PSC will have the final say in determining what the rates will actually be.