Leaders in Scranton and Lackawanna County became the latest in Pennsylvania to call for scrutiny and investigation of a proposed natural gas rate increase.
UGI Utilities last month proposed raising residential rates by 10.8%. The monthly bill for a residential customer using 73.7 ccf (hundreds of cubic feet) per month would increase from $104.47 to $115.74. Rates for typical commercial customers would increase 8.6%, and 7.5% for typical industrial customers. The new rates — which amount to an estimated $110.4 million for UGI — would take effect March 28.
City and county leaders gathered Thursday to call for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to hold a public input hearing in Scranton. The commission evaluates and approves rate hikes for utilities.
“This is a tough economic time. There's a lot of uncertainty as well, so we don't want to see more bills go up for our residents and our businesses,” said Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti. “This is a statewide increase, and hopefully there'll be more jurisdictions out there that will also ask for hearings. It's really important that people's voices are heard.”
Council members Gerald Smurl and Bill King and Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan joined Cognetti.
“We're not going to sit by and be pushed around and be forced to have these great increases forced upon our residents, not without fighting,” King said. “So we're going to do everything in our power to let these utility companies know that we understand that there are times when we need to make incremental increases … but it seems like these increases are coming every six months at least.”
The utility raised rates 4.5% in June and 8.7% in December. Prior to June 2024, the typical residential bill was $90.94 per month. It would be $115.74 by the end of March — an increase of 27% over 10 months.
The latest requested increase would recover UGI’s "ongoing costs related to system improvements and operations necessary to maintain safe and reliable natural gas service," according to a news release from the utility.
Several area legislators also have spoken out against the proposed increase.
“As Northeastern Pennsylvanians continue to struggle with high living costs, it is infuriating to see a public utility company request to raise rates by over 10%,” U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Dallas Twp.) said in a news release. “It's unacceptable that NEPA families are fighting to keep their homes warm while corporate executives stand at the trough collecting multi-million-dollar compensation packages. UGI should expect to answer for the fiscally irresponsible mismanagement of this essential service.”
Like the group gathered in Scranton on Thursday, State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski (D-Wilkes-Barre) also called on the commission to hold hearings.
“While we understand that utility companies must balance the costs of service, infrastructure repair and the needs of their customers, the timing of this rate increase is particularly troubling,” he said in a release. “Many families are already struggling to make ends meet, and this hike would only make things worse."
