The N.Y. State Public Service Commission will hold an information session and public statement hearing in Riverhead Aug. 1 on National Grid’s rate hike request for the upcoming rate year.
The natural gas supplier is seeking to raise revenues by $49.4 (6 percent) on Long Island in the April 1- 2020 – March 31, 2021 rate year. It is seeking a 19.3 percent increase in New York City to raise an additional $236.8 million.
The delivery rate increase for typical residential heating customers on Long Island will be 6.92 percent, according to a its filing with the Public Service Commission — a 5.15 percent increase in their total bill, after other charges are factored in. It equates to a $7.14 monthly increase, the company said. A typical residential heating customer uses 83 Therms per month, the company said in the filing.
The Public Service Commission will hold an information session at 1 p.m. on Aug. 1 in the Maxine Postal Legislative Auditorium at the Evans K. Griffing County Center, 300 Center Drive
Riverhead, New York 11901. A public statement hearing will follow at 2 p.m.
“The proposed increases are needed to deliver safe and reliable service in a rising cost environment,” the company said in its April 30 rate filing. “Indeed, federal, state, and local regulatory requirements account for more than 60 percent of total capital expenditures. Increasing property taxes, environmental remediation, and other operating costs are also driving the… rate increase requests…”
In its rate filing, National Grid proposes to invest more than $1.5 billion in the rate year to modernize gas infrastructure —replacing aging pipelines, implementing safety improvements, enhancing storm hardening and resiliency, and reducing methane emissions, according to the document.
Specific proposals include replacing at least 930 miles of aging pipeline over four years, undertaking major system reliability projects, and reducing total network methane emissions by replacing certain mains and identifying and repairing system leaks.
National Grid provides natural gas to nearly 2 million customers in downstate New York, the company said.
Written comments may be submitted online at the PSC website, by email to the Secretary for the Commission at secretary@dps.ny.gov and by mail to Honorable Kathleen H. Burgess, Secretary, Public Service Commission, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350.
Be sure to reference Case 19-G-0310 – KeySpan Gas East Corp. d/b/a National Grid.
Comments may also be made via a toll-free opinion line at 1-800-335-2120.
Comments submitted via these alternative means are requested by August 26, 2019, although comments will be accepted throughout the proceeding.
An information session and public statement hearing is also scheduled in the legislative auditorium in Hauppauge, at 6 and 7 p.m. respectively on Wednesday, July 31.
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