The Public Utilities Commission will soon decide whether electric rates will increase 24 percent.

The commission considered the rate-hike request at a meeting last week and plans to vote tomorrow in Warwick.

A crowd chanted "just say no" during the 2 ½-hour meeting last week. The George Wiley Center, a poverty advocacy group in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is encouraging people who are against the proposal to attend Tuesday's meeting as well.

Thomas Kogut, a spokesman for the PUC, has said many regional utility companies have filed for similar increases because of constraints on the gas pipeline that force up the price of electricity generation.

Opponents say a hike of about $21 a month for the average consumer is too much for many to pay.