City Councilor Mary Beth Pniak-Costello discusses her proposed letter that supports the action taken by local and state delegation to help with the rising energy costs.
Reminder Publishing screen capture by Tyler Garnet
CHICOPEE — During the March 4 City Council meeting, City Councilors Mary Beth Pniak-Costello and Susan Goff proposed that a letter be sent to the state delegation support the request from lawmakers to have state utility regulators investigate skyrocketing energy costs including Eversource.
Over the past few months, many residents across Western Massachusetts and the entire state have expressed their concern about rising utility costs.
Locally and statewide, legislators have recently ordered the Department of Public Utilities to review recent energy rate increases by investor-owned utility companies like National Grid and Eversource.
After senators and representatives from across the state sent a letter to DPU Chair Jamie Van Nostrand that demanded the DPU to reassess rate adjustments made by these companies and to hold Eversource accountable, the DPU ordered the state’s six gas utilities — including Eversource — reduce delivery fees to an amount that would cut the average homeowner’s bill by 5% for the months of March and April.
The DPU said utilities will be able to recover those fees in warmer months when gas usage is lower.
Pniak-Costello said that when she and Goff originally spoke about proposing this letter, little to no work was done, but have taken corrective action since “which is wonderful for our residents,” she said.
Like many others in the state, Goff and Pniak-Costello acknowledged the stress and anxiety that the rising energy costs were bringing to many families.
“There’s tremendous anxiety in regard to the rise of energy costs with Eversource,” Pniak-Costello stated. “Corrective action has been taken in regard I believe to many other cities and towns. I’m just asking this particular board to send a letter to our state reps. And our state senators to assist our residents that are faced with astronomical rates in regards to the energy costs.”
Many members of the Massachusetts Mayor’s Association were included on the letter to the DPU that read, “All across Massachusetts, working families struggle to balance the rising costs of basic needs including housing, food, and transportation. Now, our residents face exorbitant energy utility costs far beyond what they typically budget for each month. For our most vulnerable neighbors, this unexpected increase to energy costs this winter is untenable. These increased costs — and the collective failure to adequately educate and prepare customers ahead of time — must be addressed.”
Goff also discussed the proposal to send a letter of support to the local and state delegation who have been working on lowering the utility costs in the state.
“I don’t think there’s any harm in sending a letter to [state Sen.] Jake Oliveira in support to show that Chicopee is in support of his trying to find a solution to the rate hikes. Not everybody in Chicopee has Chicopee Electric, not everybody heats with electric in Chicopee so there’s a lot of residents this has affected.”
Residents in different towns and cities in Massachusetts have shared some of their energy bills going up in price including a resident who saw their January Eversource Bill rise to $449 with nearly $300 of it from supply costs.
Goff said, “People worry about how they’re going to feed their families and the cost of heat is just astronomical and I don’t think people should be put in a position where they have to decide whether they can put food on the table or pay for heating.”
Pniak-Costello, Goff and City Council President Frank Laflamme acknowledged that work has been done to decrease the rising costs, and the City Council approved a letter in support and thanks for the action taken so far.
