National Grid proposes gas rate freeze through 2028 for Long Island customers

National Grid filed a proposal with state regulators on May 29 that would freeze gas delivery rates for 1.9 million customers in New York City and Long Island through March 31, 2028. For Suffolk County households, that would mean the utility-controlled delivery charge on the bill would stay flat, but it would not erase the increases already built in over the past three years.

The relief is real, but it is narrow. A freeze on delivery rates does not automatically stop other parts of a gas bill from moving, including the gas supply charge, taxes and other line items outside the delivery portion. For a typical Suffolk family heading into winter, the main effect would be predictability: no new National Grid delivery hike added on top of what customers have already been paying. The company has already delivered cumulative monthly increases of about $60 over the prior three years, and rates rose again in April 2024, April 2025 and April 2026.

The filing lands after a separate National Grid gas rate plan won approval from the Public Service Commission on August 14, 2025. That earlier action came after a joint proposal negotiated by 15 parties, including the company, Department of Public Service staff, consumer advocates, trade and labor groups and large industrial customers. National Grid has said its downstate gas network serves Brooklyn, Staten Island, parts of Queens and Long Island, a system that reaches deep into the daily budgets of homeowners, landlords, small businesses and public institutions across Suffolk County.

That is the tradeoff regulators now have to weigh. National Grid has tied its earlier spending plans to reliability, especially during extreme weather, along with energy efficiency, lower greenhouse gas emissions, customer-service improvements and bill support for vulnerable customers. Those investments are the backdrop to the company’s push for stability now: hold rates steady for a few years, rather than keep asking customers for another jump every spring.

The timing matters because affordability remains a central Long Island issue. New York State Senate materials said roughly 1 in 7 New York households were two months or more behind on energy bills as of September 2024. In that climate, even a pause can matter, especially as winter heating season approaches.

If the Public Service Commission approves the filing, National Grid customers on Long Island would get a temporary ceiling on the delivery part of their bills through March 2028. It would not be a rollback, but after years of increases, it would at least stop the climb.