National Grid Looks To Increase Bills By $16 Per Month For Average Customer

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Natural gas bills on Long Island could be going up.

National Grid is looking to increase bills by $16 per month for the average customer.

The company's president said the delivery charge hike is necessary because there is a large discrepancy between what the state allows the company to collect and the increasing expenses it faces, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.

CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported National Grid wants to charge more to deliver natural gas into downstate homes as residential gas bills could soar about $192 a year for its 560,000 customers in Nassau and Suffolk, and 1.1 million customers in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Some ratepayers are calling the proposed hike ridiculous and unacceptable.

"I think the oil is expensive, but so is the gas, which I don't understand because we have our own gas, we can get our own gas. Why should it be higher?" retiree Mary Orlando said, adding that she is planning to join a growing grass roots protest.

As CBS2's Tracee Carrasco reported, customers like Joe Ellen Mitchell say the rate hike could force them out of their homes.

"Right now we're paying over $400 a month," she said. "It's really scary, so I know we're not going to be able to afford it."

National Grid has not raised delivery rates in a decade. Since deregulation, not all customers buy the actual gas product from them.

National Grid called the hike necessary to keep pace with expenses, which includes expanding gas service, laying new pipe, hiring more field workers, and paying to remediate toxic sites it inherited.

Customers can voice their concerns at public hearings scheduled for this week in Mineola, Riverhead and Hauppauge.

At Tuesday night's hearing in Mineola, a group of AARP members shared their concerns about the impact of the hike on elderly residents living on fixed incomes.

"Ones that can't afford it. They're gonna have to do away with food or medicines just to keep up with the utilities," Tom Gallagher said.

"It's just a lot of money to be asking people who are already struggling to pay their utility bills to come up with and we really don't think they've made the case well enough to justify it," AARP Spokesperson Chris Widelo said.

Seven hundred AARP members have filed letters of opposition to a double-digit rate increase.

The Public Service Commission must grant the hike request.

Con Edison is also proposing a rate increase -- 7.7 percent for heating and 14.4 percent for natural gas used for cooking.