National Grid Proposes $30 Per Month Rate Hike to Fix Old System That Must Be Replaced Anyway

By Yehudit Garmaise

National Grid has proposed raising its monthly rate by approximately $30 per household to comply with federal and state safety mandates and climate laws.

While the proposed rate hike would earn National Grid 17% more revenue, customers and environmental groups, told Gothamist the price increase is too much money to invest in a system that needs to be dramatically changed to dramatically reduce its use of fossil fuels.

Natural gas currently provides nearly 80% of New York City’s power comes from natural gas, but state climate laws are requiring municipal power sources to decrease their usage of energy sources from natural gas by 30% by 2030.

By 2040, National Grid must derive its energy from only emissions-free sources, according to a deadline set by New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

In response to the proposed rate hike, one Boro Park resident says he would pay “millions for safety, but not one cent for ‘climate justice.’”

Boro Park resident Samuel E. says that an astronomically high rate hike to repair gas pipes that will soon go unused is, “Nuts as can be. A person like me who works for my money to live, and I now have to collect extra money for this. It's a lot of hard work.”

“People have to wake up and realize that rate hikes will always be the result when politicians in Albany or City Hall vote for ‘environmental justice,” says Yochonon Donn.