Norwich — Norwich Public Utilities officials received no public comments during a public hearing Tuesday on a proposed rate restructuring plan that would lay the groundwork for three-year rate projections starting in November, but with rate increases only for sewer usage in the first year.

The Board of Public Utilities Commissioners/Sewer Authority received a presentation on the proposed restructuring and rate changes Tuesday. The board is expected to vote on the proposals at its Sept. 22 meeting.

The restructuring plan was proposed after an 18-month cost-of-service study conducted by Utility Financial Solutions LLC. For each of the four NPU services — electricity, natural gas, water and sewer — the new rates would “move monthly customer charge toward (cost of service).” The proposed rates were based on actual cost of providing the services to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

There are no proposed rate increases in 2020 for electric, water and natural gas, while NPU is proposing a 6% increase in sewer rates starting in November 2020.

For electricity, NPU proposed no rate increase for 2020 for the third straight year. Electric rates would increase by 1.5% starting in November 2021 and by 1.5% in November 2022. Natural gas rates also would not increase in 2020, but would rise by 2.3% starting in November 2021, and again by 2.3% in November 2022.

Sewer rates would increase by 6% per year for each of the three years covered by the proposal, starting in November 2020. No increases in water rates are proposed for the next three years under the proposal.

For customers with all four NPU services, the average monthly bill would rise by $3.76 this year, about 12 cents per day, according to figures provided by NPU. In the second year, the average bill would rise by $8.32 a month, or about 27 cents a day, an increase of 2.5%, and in the third year, the average increase would be $9.23 a month, or about 30 cents a day, an increase of 2.7%.

The presentation to the commission Tuesday showed that NPU sewer costs would be highest in the region at a monthly bill of $66.61 for 5,000 gallons per month. The monthly bill for Groton Utilities for 5,000 gallons per month, by comparison, was $45.50 in July 2020.

NPU’s electric rates were comparable or slightly higher than most of the other municipally owned utilities in the region at $118.95 for 600 kilowatts per month, with Groton Utilities at $98.63, Jewett City Department of Public Utilities at $110.40 and Bozrah Light & Power at $118.96. A monthly Eversource bill for 600 kilowatts per month is $144, the presentation showed.

An NPU water customer’s monthly bill of $50.50 falls roughly in the middle of the region’s water services, and NPU’s natural gas bill of $109.63 is lower than Yankee Gas’ monthly charge of $126.50 for the same usage.

c.bessette@theday.com