The state Public Service Commission - whose members are appointed by Gov. The utility says it needs a total of $414 million more from city customers and $228 million from Long Island ratepayers to make “investments to enable the company to deliver safer, more reliable and cleaner energy.” Given that, we think it’s a good time to work with our regulators and other stakeholders to review the process and electricity supply dynamics in the region, with an eye toward reducing price volatility and maintaining a secure, reliable, and resilient energy system for the future.National Grid, which provides only gas to customers in downstate New York, said it is proposing to phase in the increases over “multiple years to better manage customer bill impacts.” “Today, under a sustained, high market price environment, it is challenging to maintain affordable prices. “Things have fundamentally changed,” said National Grid’s Burt. But the timing of the procurements, coming shortly after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, led to the record-setting price increases. National Grid buys power on behalf of its basic service customers twice a year, in March and September, following a regulatory approved process established more than 20 years ago. “When we tie ourselves to internationally traded fuels, there’s going to be this type of volatility,” Kakley said. National Grid’s basic service price for the six months starting Novemwas 12.4 cents a kilowatt hour, the lowest level in the past six years. Matt Kakley, a spokesman for the regional power grid operator ISO New England, said the flip side of what is happening now occurred in 2020, when prices of natural gas fell. “It’s hard for me to envision the new development that will untie the constraints.” “This may persist well beyond one season,” said Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association. In the past, electricity price spikes have tended to come and go in New England, but analysts say the situation is unlikely to improve until world markets calm down or the region shifts more toward renewable sources of energy, which is going to take years. The impact in New England is even more pronounced because the region has limited access to natural gas pipelines. More US gas went abroad and inflation spiked. Europe, cut off from Russian natural gas, turned to world markets. As production in the United States began to scale back up, war broke out in Ukraine in February and energy markets worldwide were turned upside down. The price of natural gas rose last winter as production lagged in the wake of COVID. The increase affects only those National Grid customers who have the utility procure electricity on their behalf, but the price hike is an indicator of what is coming for nearly all electricity customers in the state. National Grid serves 1.3 million customers in central Massachusetts, parts of western Massachusetts, and the South Shore. “This is the highest increase that I’ve ever seen,” said Helen Burt, National Grid’s chief customer service officer. Overall, a typical customer using 600 kilowatt hours a month is expected to see his monthly bill rise from $179 to $293, an increase of 64 percent. The cost of electricity is only one element of a customer’s bill, which also includes delivery and transmission charges. The utility said on Wednesday that the cost of electricity provided under its basic service plan will more than double on November 1, rising from 14.8 cents a kilowatt hour last winter to 33.9 cents this winter, the highest level ever.
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