GREENFIELD - "These are serious times," said Cynthia Dodge.

The Greenfield resident spoke from her wheelchair on the floor of the Sloan Theater at Greenfield Community College Thursday night to voice her opposition to a rate increase proposed by the Western Massachusetts Electric Co.

Dodge said any increase would be an extra burden on those who are poor, disabled or on a fixed income.

WMECO applied for the increase in July and, if approved by the state Department of Public Utilities, would go into effect on Feb. 1, 2011.

According to WMECO, the increase would be about 7 percent and increase the average household bill by about $7.50.

WMECO has said that it needed the increase to generate about $28 million to reinvest in the company's infrastructure.

Attorney General Martha Coakley spoke out against the increase earlier this week, saying it would unfairly increase shareholder profits at the expense of ratepayers.

Coakley said that if WMECO needs to upgrade its infrastructure, the money to pay for that should come out of the company's profits first before passing along costs to consumers.

Dodge said that medical equipment uses a great deal of electricity and it alone can use more than the average use that WMECO figured.

Her medical equipment uses 800 kilowatt hours a month before household electricity use is factored in, Dodge said.

Dodge said many people may end up in emergency rooms if they cannot afford to keep their medical equipment running as they are supposed to, degrading their quality of life and potentially costing taxpayers more money.

Single parents are another vulnerable group that would be adversely affected by a rate increase, Dodge said, with some already paying upward of $100 per month for power.

"There's got to be an end to it somewhere," Dodge said.

Coakley said on Tuesday that the DPU will have the final say whether to proceed with the rate increase.

The DPU could reject the increase altogether, approve it as requested or approve a smaller increase, Coakley said.

There are two more hearings scheduled this month, on Aug. 24 in Pittsfield and Aug. 26 in Springfield.