Reading Municipal Light Looks To Limit Electricity Rate Hikes

READING, MA — Reading energy customers won’t be immune to rate increases as utility prices continue to soar this year.

Officials with the Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD), though, are looking to minimize electricity price changes in comparison to potentially major increases for nearby National Grid and Eversource ratepayers.

“Our position as a public utility gives us the ability to purchase our power through long-term contracts,” Reading Municipal Light’s Interim General Manager Greg Phipps said in a statement to Patch on Thursday of last week. “Because of these long-term contracts, RMLD customers don’t experience the same level of pricing volatility that investor-owned utility customers face recently due to external global factors.”

Reading Municipal Light services customers in Reading, Wilmington, North Reading and parts of Lynnfield.

Writing last week, Phipps said that inflation and high gas prices have had impacts on individual rates for residents and business owners. Despite those factors, though, Phipps said that Reading Municipal Light has held recent bill increases to an average of $15 per month, representing an overall increase of 12%.

Phipps said that the light department is “taking measures to minimize additional rate increases for customers.”

That includes investments in local power generation and “value engineering” aimed at alleviating supply chain cost increases, Phipps said.

New state and federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act could also help mitigate price changes, according to Phipps.

Overall, the 12% electricity increases fall below a proposed 38% increase now facing Massachusetts Eversource customers and a 64% increase for National Grid customers.

Both Eversource and National Grid last week cited natural gas shortages as contributing factors influencing gas and electricity prices. The utility companies are both now seeking approval from the state Department of Public Utilities to raise rates.

Potentially paying less on their electricity bills than some neighbors outside of the Reading Municipal Light zone, Reading community members will still face a potentially major rate increase later this year as they turn to National Grid for their natural gas needs.

National Grid’s proposal to the state would effectively increase average monthly bills by 22% compared to rates a year ago.

The gas problem is a global one, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine helping prompt widespread disruption and price fluctuations. The Wall Street Journal recently detailed the situation, explaining how European sanctions against Russia have seen European countries begin importing more natural gas from the U.S. and Canada, straining the local supply.

Back in New England, regulator ISO New England previously flagged longstanding issues with natural gas infrastructure, which it said does not provide enough pipelines to meet demand.

“National Grid understands the impact this increased financial burden can have on our customers and communities, especially when we are all experiencing increased costs for other goods and services,” National Grid said of local price hikes last week. “National Grid buys energy on behalf of our customers from the wholesale market and passes through those costs without any markup or profit, so customers pay what National Grid pays for that energy.”

As customers brace for a potentially costly winter heating season, National Grid has announced a new “Winter Customer Savings InitiativeWinter Customer Savings Initiative.”

“We want to help customers every way we can and ensure they have the opportunity to manage their bills this winter, save money and get the assistance they need,” National Grid Chief Customer Officer Helen Burt recently said of the program.

The savings initiative aims to centralize various customer resources and payment assistance programs to support customers in need, as noted in National Grid’s announcement.