just as temperatures are dropping gas bills for some new jerseyans are set to get more expensive the State Board of Public Utilities on Thursday approved rate hikes for two gas companies New Jersey natural gas which has about a half a million customers will raise their rates roughly 16% for a typical winter heating bill while Elizabethtown Gas Company which serves about 300,000 people will roll out a roughly 6% hike now the increases come as Gas Utilities face a need to upgrade their infrastructure for safety and to stop climate polluting leaks the BPU does offer multiple programs to help people struggling to pay their bills including a moratorium on shut offs during the winter the Commissioners also recently approved almost $4 billion worth of efficiency programs from the state's Gas and Electric utilities to try and help people save energy and money we oversee how these rates have been going up how they and we understand how they impact rate payers significantly and to the effect extent possible we would encourage everyone for so many reasons economic environmental to really cut back on their energy use wherever and whenever possible it's doable you can save more than these 10% increases if you cut down the thermostat and turn the lights off and not leave every TV on I'm speaking about my house in particular uh and I think that the the opportunities are there for consumers to save money where uh rates where rates are going up so