National Grid bills going up, but not as much as utility wanted

ALBANY, New York (WWNY) - We have good news and bad news about your upcoming National Grid bills. The bad news is: you’ll be paying more for gas and electricity. The good news is: the rate hike is lower than what the utility wanted.

On Thursday, the New York State Public Service Commission said it approved a three-year rate plan for National Grid customers living in upstate New York that is “significantly lower than what the company initially requested.”

According to the PSC, National Grid wanted an increase of approximately $100.4 million in electric delivery revenues (a 4.9 percent increase in base delivery revenues or a 3.2 percent increase in total revenues), and an increase of approximately $41.8 million in natural gas delivery revenues (a 9.8 percent increase in base delivery revenues or a 5.2 percent increase in total revenues).

The final deal allows revenues, after the application of customer credits, to increase by 1.4 percent for electric and 1.8 percent for gas in the first year, and by 1.9 percent for electric and gas in the second and third year.

So, what does that mean in dollars and cents?

According to National Grid, average residential electricity customers who use 600 kilowatt-hours a month would see monthly bill increases of $1.88 in the first year, $1.88 in year two and $2.23 in year three.

Average residential gas customers who use 82 therms a month would see monthly bill increases of $1.51 in the first year, $2.37 in year two and $2.56 in year three.

The changes go into effect on February 1.

National Grid provides electric service to approximately 1.6 million customers and gas service to approximately 600,000 customers.