WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. (WIVB) — National Fuel has filed a proposal with the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) to increase the company’s base delivery rates for New York customers, saying the company has only made a request like this twice in the past 15 years.

This is the first time National Fuel has requested an increase in delivery rates for customers in New York since 2016. According to National Fuel, “most utilities file a rate increase request every three years with delivery charge increases typically occurring annually.”

This request is due to increases in operating costs.

“The company’s rate request follows significant, persistent inflationary pressures that have increased our labor, materials and service costs,” National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation President Donna DeCarolis said.

What this means for customers is a rate increase that would take effect at the start of next October, ahead of the 2024-25 heating season, if approved.

“The proposed delivery rate increase would raise the bill of an average residential customer on budget billing using 85 hundred cubic feet (ccf) of gas by $11.31 per month to $93.98, or by 13.7 percent,” National Fuel says, but the final impact on customer bills won’t be determined until a decision is made by the PSC.

(Chart provided by National Fuel)

The company says that since the 2016 rate increase request, National Fuel has invested $375 million in system safety, modernization and the replacement of more than 770 miles of pipeline in New York.