National Grid Looking to Increase Prices

Your National Grid bill may be going up.

National Grid’s current three-year rate agreement expires on March 31, 2021, and the company has submitted a request for new delivery prices beginning in July 2021 for upstate New York customers.

Residential electricity customers would see an average bill increase of 4% or $3.43 per month. Residential gas customers would see an average bill increase of 6% or $4.53 per month. The company originally planned to file a request for new rates in April but delayed that filing until July 31 due to COVID-19.

“We made the decision to delay this proposal so we could use the time over the last few months to refine and reduce the amount of our request,” Bruckner said. “We worked hard to strike a balance between what is needed in the near term to maintain and improve reliability and further support our customers, and we postponed other initiatives to later years to lessen the financial impact on customers.”

While National Grid has filed a one-year plan, Bruckner noted the company hopes to reach a multi-year agreement that would phase in new rates to spread the increase over three years.

“We know we are not operating in a business-as-usual climate,” Bruckner said. “We will do everything we can to work with PSC staff and other stakeholders to reach a multi-year settlement that maintains affordability, mitigates bill impacts and supports New York’s economic recovery. At the same time, we need to adjust rates to cover the costs of providing service."

Under New York public service law, rate cases are an 11-month process that will include a number of opportunities for public input.