Congressman Neal speaks out on Eversource rate hike

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) -Eversource customers may see higher bills this winter, as the company has requested approval for a rate hike from the department of Public Utilities.

Western Mass News took questions to Congressman Richard Neal to find out what he thinks about Eversource’s proposal, as people in our area start to add up these growing costs.

“I think it’s ridiculous it’s getting to the point where it’s like $700/$800 a month for some people and that’s just not doable, I don’t think that’s even fair,” explained Jamie Lizarck of Chicopee.

“With everything else going up, it’s going to be real hard on regular people like me,” said Mike Leitl of Chicopee.

People in western Mass. are sharing their reaction to Eversource’s latest proposal to increase electric rates in 2023.

“I think they should just keep it where it is now because they are already making enough money...trying to make extra profit off us. it’s going to hurt us and I’m against it,”Leitl said.

Over 1 million people in the Bay State use Eversource as their electric company. The company said that a customer who uses 600 kilowatt hours of power each month, could see an increase of around 21%, or nearly $40, on their current bill on the supply portion.

Western Mass News brought questions to Congressman Richard Neal about the proposed rate increases.

“We all understand the issue of supply and demand. We understand the punitive action that Putin has taken in Ukraine and that certainly has contributed to these price increases everywhere,” he said.

He said he hopes these increases won’t happen.

“I hope those announced requests will not prevail in their entirety largely because of the attorney general is going to have considerable leeway on those requests,” Neal said.

On Friday, November 18, 2022, the department of Public Utilities approved Eversource’s proposed basic service rates for its western service territory.