Cooler temperatures are on the horizon, with fall beginning Monday, and natural gas customers in Massachusetts should be ready for a potential rate hike when they turn on their heating systems in the coming months.

Both Eversource and National Grid are asking the Department of Public Utilities if they can increase their gas prices, something that affects around 1.5 million people in the Bay State.

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Eversource, which has approximately 640,000 gas customers in Mass., has asked the department for a 13% increase, meaning the average bill will be about $41 more, the utility company said in a press release.

Eversource attributed most of the increase to expenses for “maintenance and infrastructure investment,” as we

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