BOSTON — Today, Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who serves as the Commonwealth’s ratepayer advocate, called on the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to implement both immediate and long-term rate relief measures as sky-high gas and electric bills continue to burden Massachusetts ratepayers.
“Gas customers understandably have reacted with outrage to recent hikes in
their gas bills, specifically to the delivery charge component of those bills, which includes a multitude of charges that not only escalate based on gas usage but also are impossible to understand for most customers,” AG Campbell writes in the letter. “Each of these cost drivers must be reexamined with a critical eye toward energy affordability.”Yesterday, the DPU directed gas utility companies to reduce residential customer bills by at least 5 percent for the remainder of the winter heating season (i.e., March and April) and defer those costs for payment during the off-peak season. In her letter, AG Campbell urges the gas utility companies to instead shoulder a portion of these deferred costs to help alleviate ratepayer impacts.
Additionally, AG Campbell urges the DPU to prioritize affordability over company profits when establishing energy delivery rates for customers in future base distribution rate cases. AG Campbell also calls on the DPU to implement her office’s recommendations for more accessible and effective relief assistance programs. This includes ordering all utility companies to design and offer tiered low-income discount rates and directing the utility companies to improve the reach of programs so that more customers can benefit from them.
Notably, the letter includes a request for the DPU to take decisive action on programs and policies that would deliver long-term, meaningful rate relief to keep energy bills affordable for gas and electric customers.
A copy of the letter may be read in its entirety, here.
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