Following last week's National Grid rate hike, a New York assemblyman wants to give the legislature the power to control such increases.
The Public Service Commission okayed the rate under which most households will see their utility bill rise about $600 annually. Under the agreement, natural gas and electric bills will go up incrementally over three years.
Residential electricity customers using an average of 625 kilowatt-hours per month can expect to see an increase of $14.32 each month in the first year, $6.44 in the second year and $4.34 in year three for National Grid customers. Gas customers using an average of 78 therms per month will see an increase of roughly $7.66 a month in the first year, $8.08 in the second, and $9.18 in the third.
Democratic 111th district Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara's "Utility Rate Hike Legislative Review Act" provides the Public Service Commission's exclusive authority to approve rate hikes should be reviewed by state lawmakers.
"We should have the legislature take a look at these decisions, have a review period, and have the power to either reduce or reverse these decisions if, if we see fit," Santabarbara said. "And you know, in this case, the timing couldn't be worse. You know the cost of costs are rising across the board, and this decision, I think, doesn't make sense at all, adding a significant burden on working families. Seniors have called, very, very concerned, actually frightened about this. This is something that's sending shock waves through throughout upstate New York."
Retired Public Employees Association executive director Tom Tatun says the hike will be a burden for many of the state's 500,000 RPEA members.
"We understand that the process is to create the systemized approach for the rate increases. And we appreciate that there's some safety nets and protections built into this system. But rather than have our at-risk populations, our folks who are on fixed incomes and low fixed incomes, rather than make them seek help from those safety nets after the fact, we'd love to see some additional preventative measures for these people," said Tatun.
Santabarbara believes his legislation is reasonable, and righteous. "It's gonna require that any increase, any proposed increase, is given to the legislature for a 60-day review period before implementation. It allows the legislature to take a look at that during that period, to look at reducing or reversing that decision, with a resolution passed during that time period, during that review period, and another piece of this bill that is important is that it applies retroactively for the past 12 months. So in this case, we're out of session right now, this rate hike was approved, so we probably won't be able to take this up until January, or if we get called back into any sort of session. But right now we're not in session, so we need that 12-month window," Santabarbara said.
National Grid says the newly approved three-year electricity and natural gas delivery rate plan replaces the company’s May 2024 rate request, which sought to increase electric delivery rates by 15 percent for residential electric customers and 20 percent for gas customers.
National Grid's Patrick Stella defends the rate hike, arguing that while no one likes to see their bill increase, the utility has a responsibility to maintain certain standards.
"And really what we tried to do with this case is to kind of balance affordability with investments and operations and maintenance that will enhance liability for our customers over the next few years," said Stella. "Yeah, it's a compromise. You certainly got a joint proposal that was less than our original ask. But compromise is just that. It's something that that we believe will maintain the reliability and safety of the system for the next several years."
Santabarbara says his bill is picking up support on both sides of the aisle.
