National Fuel Raises New York and PA Gas Prices in Countrywide Trend

Read our editorial on the economic crisis here.

Utilities monopoly National Fuel raised residential gas bills by an average of 7.2% on October 1 for New York State residents as part of the monopoly’s 3-year fuel delivery rate plan. This is predicted to raise customer bills by a total average of 17.2% or $13.76 per month from January 2025 to October 2026.

On August 1, this same annual supply charge adjustment resulted in an expected 12.2% monthly bill increase for Pennsylvania residents. According to National Fuel, no mark-up was added to the price hike.

National Fuel is a private energy monopoly whose utility division provides natural gas services for 2.1 million people in New York and Pennsylvania. Being National Fuel’s first New York delivery rate increase since 2017, National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation former President Donna L. DeCarolis cited inflation as the primary cause in a 2024 statement. National Fuel’s stock price has risen by 47% since the start of 2025, all while workers are forced to pay more for their energy bills.

Utility Hikes are a Countrywide Trend

Utility price increases are not exclusive to National Fuel customers but are indicative of a trend in the entire country. Essentials have consistently gone up in price since last year, with electricity bills increasing by 6.2% and natural gas by 13.8%, all while median earnings of full-time workers increased by only 4.6% since last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an “increase” that actually means a declining real wage.

Most utility companies are privately owned, yet rely on government guarantees, subsidies, and rate regulation to ensure their profits—all approved by both the Democrat and Republican mafias. With no other choice available to keep homes warm, workers are stuck paying the monopolies’ price. As the monopolies become increasingly centralized, prices are hiked.

Nearly 60 utility companies across the country are demanding or have already won price increases totaling over $41 billion, affecting more than 80 million households. Electric and gas monopolies are raking in record profits while blaming “wildfires,” “infrastructure improvements,” and “market conditions.” In Florida, FPL, one of the country’s largest privately owned utility monopolies, has filed for a rate hike of nearly $9 billion—the largest in U.S. history—explicitly so it can increase shareholder returns from 10.6% to 11.9%.

Private equity companies like Blackstone, KKR, Brookfield, Macquarie, and Global Infrastructure Partner, increasingly own large stakes in US utility infrastructure, raking in big profits with state backing. A study by the Roosevelt Institute found that as utilities ownership concentrates, monopolies are paying out a larger fraction of their earnings to shareholders and are not investing to lower rates or expand infrastructure.

Reform Roll-Backs and Price Increases

Behind the price hikes has been a concerted effort to attack reforms conquered by the working class over the decades. For example, the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has come under attack by the ultra-reactionaries—LIHEAP provides low cost heating and electricity to poorer working class people. LIHEAP was won after struggles over the ability of renters to afford their heating bills during the 1970s energy crises. Last April, Trump fired all federal staff who would administer LIHEAP, creating worries that the billions in dollars that usually go as grant money to the 50 states who utilize the program will be holed up before bad weather hits.

As the imperialist crisis deepens, the imperialists continue to pass attacks onto the working class all while monopolists are growing richer and propagating delusions of economic success or “cooling”.

Energy costs increasing in price is multi-faceted but aside from the effects of increased concentration in monopolies, a few trends are present: in the US, natural gas demand has reached all-time highs this year, coinciding with a rise in power-hungry AI data centers and with liquefied natural gas exports reaching record-levels in August. This is partially due to Trump’s sanctions which, alongside squeezing the oppressed nations and also workers in the US, are designed to weaken the rival imperialist powers to preserve US imperialism’s hegemony. This is in the context of these energy-hungry imperialist powers adhering to restrictions against trade with Russia—the second-largest natural gas producer and exporter before its 2022 war of aggression against Ukraine.

Image: A natural gas pipeline in Pennsylvania. Credit: Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania.

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