Buy wood stoves I guess, because $500 a month heating bills are about to become a thing.
via lockportjournal:
ALBANY — Utility giant National Grid is urging its upstate customers to brace for much higher heating costs once temperatures plunge.
National Grid’s latest pricing forecast predicts its natural gas customers will see a 39% jump in heating costs this winter. Estimates suggest each household served by the utility, on average, will pay more than $260 over the five-month heating season, or more than $50 per month than what those customers were charged last year.
Advocates for low-income people fear the higher bills will be particularly burdensome for senior citizens and others living on fixed incomes, as they are already grappling with higher prices for groceries and other necessities due to inflation.
The warning, issued this week, is being met with cries of outrage from Rep. Lee Zeldin, the GOP candidate for governor, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Saratoga County, and Steve McLaughlin, the Rensselaer County executive.
Zeldin linked the higher natural gas prices to a settlement early this year between the state Public Service Commission and National Grid that resulted in the utility abandoning an $80 million pipeline project — the so-called Albany Loop — while National Grid got the state’s green light to raise gas and utility prices by $329 million.
AC