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First Posted: 5/30/2014 As utility bills continue to rise, it&#8217;s time for power companies to come clean about what really drove up electric and gas bills for New Yorkers and others across the country, including certain Pennsylvania residents, last winter.
This month, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand added her voice to those of Sen. Charles Schumer, the state Public Service Commission and a host of others in demanding that federal officials conduct a full investigation into why the bills rose so drastically and without warning this past winter, more than 60 percent for some utility customers.
Many residents were shocked this winter when they opened their National Grid bills, some of which were hundreds of dollars higher than the previous year. The unexpectedly high bills put many families, particularly those on tight budgets, in the position of weighing the need for other necessities vs. paying their power bills. As a result of the spike, New Yorkers currently owe about $1 billion in overdue utility bills.
The federal Energy Department earlier this month reported that customers spent $14 billion more this winter to heat their homes nationwide. Natural gas expenses rose $5.8 billion, a 16 percent hike. Residents spent 27 percent, or $6 billion, more on heating oil and propane. And electricity expenditures increased $7.9 billion, or about 10 percent. More than half the homes in the Northeast use natural gas as their primary heating fuel. Heating oil is second and electricity is third.
There&#8217;s no question that prices went up a lot. The question that hasn&#8217;t been answered to anyone&#8217;s satisfaction is, &#8220;Why?&#8221;
The nation did experience an unusually cold winter; the Northeast was about 13 percent colder than the previous year and 10 percent colder than the average for the last decade.
But it seems awfully suspicious that as the nation was gripped by a polar vortex, power customers suddenly faced a financial vortex thanks to their heating bills. Utility bills usually go up in winter, but not like this.
Utilities blamed the increase on those low temperatures and subsequent higher demand. But some question whether the huge increases were manufactured by power companies, by charging more for fuel than they&#8217;re allowed, and by fuel providers, by withholding supplies to keep prices artificially high.
Gillibrand recently said she sent a letter to the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking for an investigation. Schumer last month asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
Whomever investigates, the public deserves answers. If the utilities are on the up-and-up and the price increases were the legitimate result of supply-and-demand, force them to document that.
But if utilities in any way manipulated the markets to take advantage of the cold winter and generate higher profits, then the federal government needs to step in, punish the offenders, and take steps to prevent it from happening again.
Despite our glorious spring weather, a new winter will be upon us in only a few months. Residents can ill afford a repeat of what happened last winter.
The Daily Gazette
Schenectady, N.Y.

OTHER OPINION: NORTHEAST’S HEATING SEASON Rising utility bills beyond pale for many