National Grid's pending upgrades, rate hikes explained to Warren Co. officials

QUEENSBURY | National Grid has proposed raising its electricity delivery rates by about 24 percent for the average residential customer — while expanding and hardening its power transmission infrastructure. The company's plans also call for installing new smart meters in homes and businesses. These devices will more efficiently contain outages, and inform homeowners and entrepreneurs about their electricity and natural gas usage. National Grid executives Thomas Iwinski and Kimberly Ireland discussed the proposed rates and system upgrades Aug. 1 with the county's Legislative Rules & Governmental Operations Committee. National Grid does not charge for the electricity itself, but they routinely bill for it on behalf of electricity generators. National Grid is not allowed to mark up the price of the electricity it delivers, Ireland said. National Grid's rate increases are now pending before the state Public Service Commission (PSC), and these changes, if approved, would be effective next April. National Grid's residential customers enrolled in their low-income program will have their delivery rates decrease between 7.4 percent and 27.9 percent. Commercial and industrial customers of National Grid will experience delivery-charge increases ranging between 3.2 percent and 25 percent depending on rate classification, usage, and voltage provided. Ireland said that the state requires National Grid to submit a one-year rate proposal, but this period might be extended to three years or four, decreasing its initial impact. STORMS, UPGRADES IMPACT RATES "The cost of operating, maintaining and replacing infrastructure has gone up dramatically in the last three to four years," Iwinski said, noting the company's past and future upgrades in their infrastructure, and the escalating costs of repairs due to the ever-increasing severity and frequency of storms. Another reason for the size of the rate increase is that the last rate change was negotiated during the COVID pandemic when National Grid and the PSC agreed that increases had to be kept low — less than 2 percent over three years. Iwinski added that the inflation rate since the pandemic exceeded the 2021 rate increase by 13 percent, necessitating the pending "catch-up" increase. Ireland said that adjusted for inflation, average residential electricity bills were about 20 percent lower in 2023 than in 2007. The ongoing "hardening" of National Grid's transmission infrastructure will provide benefits beyond creating more delivery capacity to keep up with the increasing energy demand, Iwinski and Ireland said. Their company's projects of building new duplicate transmission lines can prevent outages — by feeding power through a secondary line when a storm causes an outage on the primary line, Iwinski said. Several projects in Warren County and its neighboring counties reflect these objectives. INCREASING POWER DEMAND National Grid is embarking on a $420 million project to reconfigure substations and distribution lines in northern Saratoga and southern Warren County which will triple its distribution capacity in Queensbury to meet projected electricity demand. This increased need for power is due not only to economic development and more customers, but also to increases in the replacement of conventional furnaces and fuel-powered vehicles with heat pumps and electric vehicles. This pending project follows a $14 million rehabilitation of a Queensbury substation in 2018. Iwinski said that last year, his company completed a project in Ticonderoga, replacing every transmission tower and many conductor lines, a project that reduced power outages from a half-dozen to zero in similar periods. POWER GRID UPGRADES Two projects underway will directly impact northern Warren County: one is to install "fault-location" sensors and switches that communicate with each other, to isolate an outage so it affects far fewer households and businesses. Such sensors are now being installed between Bolton Landing and Diamond Point, Iwinski said. Also, the poles, wires, voltage and transformers are being upgraded in the towns of Chester and Johnsburg, where a power line to Riparius will be installed, creating a bi-directional feed that will minimize the size of outages as well as accommodate more customers, Iwinski said of the $1.1 million project. A similar dual-feed project is underway in the Cleverdale/Pilot Knob area adjacent to Lake George, utilizing a new circuit extending to an upgraded Queensbury substation. Also, power transmission lines to Stony Creek will be rebuilt, with power poles moved out of wooded areas and repositioned roadside. The objective is to streamline repairs and reduce outage disruptions. 'SMART' METERS IMMINENT Another system-wide effort by National Grid is likely to have a dramatic effect on the frequency and severity of outages: the upcoming replacement of their customers' conventional electricity meters with smart meters. These devices not only send data on energy usage and outages to National Grid, but also to customers' and entrepreneurs' smartphones or computers, via an app or a web portal. CONCERNS EXPRESSED After listening to the lengthy presentation, Queensbury at-large supervisor Michael Wild expressed his concerns. "Any kind of significant increase in rates could have a detrimental effect on not only our industries but our workforce and our general economy," he said. Ireland responded that representatives of prominent industries were some of the people "most involved" in National Grid's rate hearings. Large industries that use the most power, Iwinski said, are likely to experience an increase of only 3.2 percent which could be spread over three years. Wild responded that Warren County's legacy businesses including paper mills, might be unable to afford a 3.2 percent hike. Ireland added that the quality and reliability of power delivery is of greater concern to major industrial enterprises. Wild also asked Ireland and Iwinski to identify the portion of the $1.7 billion in regional upgrades that are to occur in Warren County. Ireland responded that wherever the upgrades are made regionally, they impact Warren County, adding that she and Iwinskiy would soon provide the information. UPGRADES PRAISED Bolton Supervisor Ron Conover said such a "smarter system" of power transmission was "critically important" to area residents and businesses. He added that rate inflation was indeed common in the utility industry, citing how a municipal consortium recently imposed a 60 percent rate increase for electricity. Also, Conover praised National Grid's restoration efforts during the recent storms. Stony Creek Supervisor Frank Thomas expressed appreciation for National Grid's upcoming system upgrades, particularly the new smart sensors and switches. Queensbury Supervisor John Strough, chairman of the county's Legislative Committee, also offered his thoughts. "One thing I really like about National Grid is their community outreach and their communications, particularly with town supervisors," he said.

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National Grid's pending upgrades, rate hikes explained to Warren Co. officials

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