WARWICK, R.I. — For the third year in a row, Rhode Island residents are in for some serious sticker shock when they open their utility bills.

Earlier this summer, Rhode Island Energy, the main electric and natural gas company in the state, unveiled its winter electric rates for the upcoming season. Starting Oct. 1 the company proposed raising the electric rate by 22% compared to the current summer rate that has been in place since April. If approved by state regulators, it would be the third winter in a row of steep rate hikes.

Per state law, Rhode Island Energy is only allowed to charge pass-through costs on ratepayers when it comes to electricity supply; this means the company cannot make a profit off the sale of electricity, it can only charge rates that cover the cost to pay for the supply.

Under the proposed rates, the cost of electricity would be raised to 16.387 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), slightly lower than the previous winter’s rate of 17.741 per kWH.

“We recognize that high winter energy costs are a challenge for many of our customers, and our team has successfully secured lower prices than we have seen over the last two winters so we can pass those savings on to customers,” Rhode Island Energy president Greg Cornett said in a statement announcing the proposed rates in July. “We work every day to provide our customers with reliable, affordable and sustainable energy, and we encourage all customers to explore the many ways we offer to help them save energy and money — including our payment plans, assistance programs and variety of energy efficiency solutions.”

Unlike other states, which often change electric prices month to month as prices fluctuate, Rhode Island requires utility companies like Rhode Island Energy to set rates in six-month blocks, to provide some buffer against volatile energy markets.

Subsequently, as part of its rate change docket, the Public Utilities Commission has also started to investigate changing the six-month cycle of rate changes, studying how switching to a monthly rate change system would impact ratepayers and the state’s emissions inventories. It’s a move that has received mixed reactions from stakeholders, ranging from praise from the state attorney general’s office to criticism from environmental groups like the Green Energy Consumers Alliance.

The PUC, which oversees electric utilities in the state, is scheduled to hold a public comment hearing on the rate hike Monday at 6 p.m. Ahead of the hearing, utility justice advocates and ratepayers sounded the alarm as the state’s low-income communities face a third winter of double-digit rate hikes.

“I think Rhode Island Energy has heard it for years and years; it’s either we have to choose our food or choose to pay the utilities,” said Daisy Benitez, a bilingual organizer at the George Wiley Center in Pawtucket. “Choose to pay the rent or choose to pay the utilities. It’s a choice between [paying] one thing or the other thing.”

Utility justice advocates have long asked Rhode Island Energy to implement a percentage income payment plan (PIPP), where low-income and other qualifying residents pay a specific percentage of their income to satisfy their utility bill, instead of the regular amount calculated by how much electricity used per month. Legislation requiring the company to re-introduce the plan — Rhode Island had a pilot program in the late 1980s — has regularly stalled in the General Assembly.