Rep. Robert B. Lancia to Propose Study Commission on National Grid

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STATE HOUSE -- Rep. Robert Lancia (R-Dist. 16, Cranston) announced on December 1, 2017, that he will be proposing legislation to develop a study commission on the overall business practices of National Grid this upcoming legislative session.

In recent months, we have seen electric rate increases of 53% for residents of Rhode Island and a lack of response time to power outages in October, which for some areas took up to four days to restore. 
 
Rep. Lancia has long been a strong opponent of rate increases proposed by the utility company over the years, including the most recent increase that went into effect last month. Rep. Lancia stated last October that “despite vehement public opposition for Rhode Island’s Public Utilities Commission to approve the 53% rate increase for electricity, per request of National Grid, it voted to approve it.  The decision to raise the cost of energy from 6.3 cents per kilowatt hour to 9.5 cents is too hard for families trying to make ends meet.”
 
National Grid filed another proposal with Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission on November 27, 2017. With the most recent proposal, residential electricity customers would see a monthly bill increase of 6 percent while commercial and industrial electricity customers’ bill would range from a 3 to 9 percent. Gas customers will also see a hike of about 5 percent, averaging out to $65 more per month, while commercial and industrial customers’ annual bill impact would range from 1 to 6 percent.
 
This proposed study commission will request the utility company to open up their books and finally get answers to many questions that Rhode Island residents have asked over the past few months. Rep. Lancia remarked, “Why do rates continue to increase? And why was the response time to the most recent storm so slow?” With this commission being formed, Rep. Lancia will continue his mission to “put a dollar back in the pockets of each and every resident of Rhode Island.”

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For more information, contact:
Joseph Golomboski, House Minority Office
State House Room 106
Providence, RI 02903
(401)222-2259