CBS6 Investigates: Understanding your National Grid utility bill
September 24th, 2025
Emma Quinn Wed, September 24th 2025 at 5:00 PM
Watch the full story here.
As you receive your next utility bill, you may notice some changes.
We have been telling you how National Grid gas and electric bills are expected to rise after a state agency approved rate hikes last month.
We asked National Grid for more information about where your money is actually going.
Looking at any utility bill can be confusing. National Grid reps say the bill is broken into two different parts: the supply and the delivery.
About 38% of your utility bill is the supply.
“National Grid goes out and we buy electricity from the electricity provider and we put that on the bill and we don’t mark that up or change that in any way,” said Patrick Stella, Communications Manager for National Grid Eastern NY.
About 62% goes to the actual delivery of your electricity or gas.
“We have trucks that are going out there and doing work every day and all the employees, all of that’s part of operations,” Stella adds.
Within the bill, it pays investors, operation costs, and all the work that goes into preparing for snow and rain storms.
Those preparations include inspections on utility poles with the use of dronetechnology.
“The drone allows us to get into places that you wouldn’t have been able to before, or if you wanted to, it would’ve required you know, crews in a bucket truck, a helicopter, or somebody climbing so they can get up there and take a look at something,” said Jon Thies, UAS Program Manager.
The drones also help detect power outages which helps crews at the regional command centers. The Capital Region command center is in Altamont.
“We have these regional control centers across the state that are monitoring the system on a 24/7 basis,” said Stella.
Other portions of the bill go towards state programs and taxes.
“Many of them come from the state legislature that are passed along in your energy bill and others are passed along,” said Justin Wilcox. Executive Director at Upstate United. “Whether they’re local property taxes, whether they’re energy efficiency programs, whether they’re a weatherization program, battery storage, clean energy fund, building electrification, those are all programs that the state has really mandated get passed along to ratepayers through the utility bill.”
Now if paying your bill is a struggle there are multiple payment plan options either through the state or you can call national grid and talk to one of their consumer advocates.