Recently I received a notification from National Grid, our natural gas supplier, that the rates for gas delivery to our home would be raised by about 17 percent to 25 percent. Perhaps other readers have also received this same notice. Many customers are already paying this higher rate and may not know they are. The provider’s stated reason for the rate difference is that we use gas for heating our home, and consequently that we are consuming more gas than if we were only using gas for cooking and hot water. A representative of National Grid explained to me that the higher delivery rate for those of us classified as home heating customers is standard and approved by New York State. The company’s justification is that since we use a greater volume of gas, we should pay more per unit of gas to have it fed into our homes through the same pipes that delivered our gas back when we were just using gas for cooking and hot water.
It has always been my understanding in basic economics that when you buy greater amounts of a product—when you are a volume user—you should pay less per unit. You should get a discount for buying in bulk. When I spoke with representatives of National Grid to protest this higher rate, what they told me in essence was this: In the world in which National Grid operates, if a customer has the privilege of buying more natural gas from them in order to heat a home, he or she must pay more per unit to have it delivered: 17 to 25 percent more.
Over the years, gas suppliers have urged us to exchange our old oil furnaces for “clean, comfortable natural gas heat.” There were rebates, too. Many of us have done the conversions and, I think, been pleased with the results. But nowhere in the process can I remember being told that National Grid would be charging us more per unit to deliver gas for us to heat our homes. Even our furnace installers—Systematic Control Corp.—confirm that they were unaware of and cannot explain why there is a different, higher delivery rate for gas heating customers.
I don’t know whether there is anything to be done to prevent National Grid from levying a 17 to 25 percent higher delivery rate on home heating gas customers—we appear to have no say in this—but as consumers we have to take note that this is one more exasperating example of a big company treating its customers any way it wishes.
—Michael Duffy
