A request by Liberty Utilities to jack up natural gas rates for customers by an average of 55% next year — and up to 90% by the start of the next decade — met with widespread condemnation as customers and public officials called the idea “absolutely absurd.”

Liberty, the area’s natural gas supplier, has proposed to increase its rates for the first time in 10 years. It is also attempting to implement a performance-based ratemaking plan that could see further increases over the next five years.

At a public meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 14, held by the Department of Public Utilities at Bristol Community College, the three-member DPU commission heard no formal presentation from Liberty. Instead, it got an earful from residents who noted that Fall River is one of the poorest cities in a state with notoriously high energy costs.

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