Lawmakers meet to discuss electric rate increases

December 14, 2014 11:49 pm

By News Staff,

news@abc6.com

Lawmakers are meeting to discuss the recent filing for a double-digit increase in electric rates.

The Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee and the Senate Committee on Commerce will meet jointly Tuesday at the Statehouse.

National Grid has asked to increase electric rates 23.6 percent. The Public Utilities Commission is considering the rate hike Tuesday.

Thomas Kogut, a spokesman for the PUC, has said many regional utility companies have filed for increases because of constraints on the gas pipeline that force up the price of electricity generation.

The chief of staff of the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources office, Nicholas Ucci, will explain the proposed increase to lawmakers and discuss what Rhode Island and other New England states are doing to address the rising cost of electricity.