Projo Biz Blog

Just seven weeks after increasing natural gas rates by 8 percent, National Grid has filed a request to lower rates for its Rhode Island customers by 4.6 percent.

The company said the market price for natural gas has fallen since the rate increase went into effect on July 15, which means that the company's expected cost to buy the fuel for its customers has fallen as well.

However, National Grid said it has no plans to seek a decrease in electricity rates because the recent declines in the cost of energy will still not be enough to cover its costs to buy power for its customers. The company raised electricity rates by 21.7 percent on July 15 as well.

The gas rate decrease will lower the bill of a typical heating customer who uses 922 therms of natural gas to $1,499 a year from the current typical bill of $1,570 a year, a decline of $72, or 4.6 percent.

The company filed the request with the Public Utilities Commission late Tuesday and seeks to implement the new rate as of Nov 1.

Separately, however, National Grid is still seeking an increase in natural gas distribution rates, which would increase rates by about 5 percent.

Those charges, which are separate from those for the gas itself, cover the company's cost of operating and maintaining the gas distribution network. The PUC has scheduled public hearings on that request for next week.

The result: If both proposals are approved, the increase in distribution rates would essentially equal the decrease in the gas rate, and bills would remain essentially unchanged.

 Tags  National Grid National Grid natural gas rates National Grid rate requests

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