Leave it to a New York state public entity to try to spin one of the worst pieces of news possible by suggesting they actually “helped” National Grid ratepayers when they decided to OK a rate hike for the utility giant that is expected to cost customers an estimated $600 more per year starting next year.
That’s just exactly what the Public Service Commission did on Thursday when it issued a press release under the heading: “PSC Dramatically Reduces National Grid’s Rate Request.”
In the release, commission Chair Rory M. Christian somehow even managed to describe the $600 more per year that will deal another crushing blow to working-class families as “in the public interest.”
“It is a forward-looking plan that benefits customers and includes provisions that further important state and commission objectives, while keeping customer affordability first and foremost in mind,” Christian said.
That’s government speak for “be thankful we didn’t make it worse on you.”
It is also spin.
Spin-a-rific.
Spin-a-rooney.
We all know the reality — National Grid customers are getting higher bills in 2026 at a time when everything already costs more, including trips to the now-dubious named “Dollar Tree” where, near as I can tell, fewer and fewer items are actually priced at $1 anymore.
It’s going to be yet another financial hardship that will impact seniors and parents and children and, well, all of us who can’t afford to pay another $600 per year for much of anything because we are:
* Practically broke already
* Living paycheck-to-paycheck
* Extended out on credit
* Well, you know, just regular working-class Americans besieged by all manner of costs and fees and taxes and wallet-shrinking nonsense.
That’s not the world PSC board members or governors or high-ranking state officials or National Grid executives live in.
It’s our world.
There’s a lot of stuff in the PSC press release you can read for yourselves here: https://dps.ny.gov/news/psc-dramatically-reduces-national-grids-rate-request.
It essentially justifies the increased rates as being necessary to allow National Grid to perform system upgrades and maintenance so it can keep all the electricity and gas flowing.
There’s also some cover language for Gov. Kathy Hochul, whom Republicans have heavily criticized for supporting climate change legislation that they say involves costs National Grid is now passing along to its New York customers.
“Governor Kathy Hochul made it clear the original rate proposal was too high,” the commission said in its release. “At Governor Kathy Hochul’s direction, the Department of Public Service, the staff arm of the Commission, scrutinized National Grid’s rate case to prioritize affordability. It’s the Commission’s responsibility to find the right balance between the resources needed to ensure system reliability and minimize costs to ratepayers. The Commission believes these agreements found the best possible path forward in this case.”
For the record, Hochul did tell the PSC to reject National Grid’s original and higher rate increase proposal and was critical of the commission’s decision this week to clear the way for the “lower” rate hike plan. In a statement released Thursday, Hochul described the commission’s efforts to reduce the “ridiculously high” initial rate proposals as still not enough, while ratepayer affordability should have been the “guidepost.”
“This is no time for bonuses and big raises for executives, especially if they are going to be looking to raise rates on their customers,” Hochul said.
But it is that time and higher utility bills are coming for a lot of us, those who are already working two and in some cases even three jobs and those who, no matter how hard they work, have zero expectation of getting a raise from their employer heading into next year.
We’re not the government.
We can’t take a majority vote to authorize higher pay or approve increased fees to cover stuff like our own health care, transportation, child care and, yes, electricity, heating and even food.
Where does it end?
What do we do?
This may sound bold and I like electricity as much as the next guy, but I think we should all just stop paying.
Just don’t pay the electric bills and really all of the taxes and all of the bills.
When the shutoff notices come and we all are shivering in the winter without heat, we’ll make sure we have reams and reams and reams of physical copies of PSC press releases on hand.
We’ll just spread them around so we can all burn them to keep warm.
It won’t be pleasant, but we can all take solace in knowing the New York State Public Service Commission did what it could to “dramatically” reduce our pain, all with the public’s interest in mind.
