A Con Edison crew worker conducting infrastructure repairs (Twitter)
July 8, 2022 By Christian Murray
Dozens of elected officials—including many from Queens—are calling on the New York State Public Service Commission to block Con Edison’s proposal to hike electricity and gas bills next year.
Forty-nine officials from New York City and Westchester County are asking the PSC to deny Con Ed’s proposed rate hike that would raise the average customer’s overall electric bill by 11.2 percent and gas bill by 18.2 percent. The increases would take effect in 2023 and apply to residents of New York City and Westchester.
Con Ed, a publicly traded company, is calling for the increase in order to fund a $1.2 billion upgrade to its electric delivery system and a $500 million upgrade to its gas system. It is also planning to invest additional funds in renewable energy as it looks to reduce its use of fossil fuels.
The elected officials sent a letter to the PSC and Gov. Kathy Hochul on July 6 urging them to deny what they described as “Con Ed’s egregious rate hike.”
They say that 385,000 of Con Ed’s New York City and Westchester customers are already behind on their bills due to the economic fallout of the pandemic, runaway inflation and surging fuel prices. They argue that the hike will only exacerbate people’s hardship.
The officials say that the proposal would result in an extra $20.90 per month for electricity and $37.88 more per month for gas for the average customer.
“For my constituents facing inflation and an uncertain economy, these increases on an essential service, where they are at the mercy of this monopoly, whose profits have been tremendous while performance has been lacking, are simply unacceptable, unaffordable and quite frankly infuriating,” said State Sen. Shelly Mayer, who represents a district in Westchester.
The proposal primarily deals with Con Ed hiking its delivery charges, one of the three main components—along with the supply charge and taxes—included in electric and gas bills.
Delivery charges are levied by Con Ed to maintain the system. The system transports the energy, through the use of wires, substations, towers, transistors and other related infrastructure.
The state, through the Public Service Commission, regulates the delivery rates, which Con Ed is looking to increase. The company aims to raise these rates by 17.6 percent for electricity delivery and 28.1 percent for gas delivery.
The second component is the supply charge, which changes based on the cost of fuel needed to run the generators. Con Ed is not permitted to make a profit on the supply cost.
The third component is property taxes, which Con Ed says it is required to pay $2.5 billion in 2023. Property taxes, according to the company, will account for approximately $180 million of the proposed increase in electric costs and $75 million of the proposed increase in gas costs.
Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, who signed the letter, said that the proposed price hikes are unreasonable and come at a time when New Yorkers are facing higher food and fuel pump costs. She also said that tenants are also dealing with rent increases.
“The PSC must serve the public, not Con Ed’s bottom line. Con Ed’s rate hike request is unaffordable and must be denied, simple and plain.”
Cabán is among the many Queens officials to sign the letter. Others include State Senators Michael Gianaris and Jessica Ramos; Assemblymembers Zohran Mamdani, Nily Rozic, Andrew Hevesi, Brian Barnwell, Khaleel Anderson and Jessica González-Rojas; as well as Councilmembers Lynn Schulman, Shekar Krishnan, Julie Won and Robert Holden.
“The constituents I serve in Queens, like many New Yorkers, cannot afford already exorbitant utility costs,” González-Rojas said. “Cost of living across the city and state is rapidly outpacing wage growth and so many New Yorkers are facing economic hardship.”
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16 Comments
My bills went up by 35%. Coned need to get smackdown like the gas prices.
bad system.
The financial situation of it customers has no bearing on ConEds’s request for rate hikes, nor should it. The state and city increase taxes on the utility because gotta have money to give away free stuff. They block local energy production and simultaneously raise the cost of production and delivery. Then stomp their feet and blame the utility for raising rates. Being a politician is even better than being a utility, anything good they take credit for, anything bad is “rich guy bad, business mean”. I’m your savior.” I lived through ConEd’s two week Queens blackout, so fu€k’em, but these left wing d-bags make me sick.
you mean the same “officials” that voted for shutting down clean and cheap nuclear power and enabling far more expensive green power where they knew would cost way more to supply and deliver?
Thank you Julie Won.
The thumbs up and down on this comments board is corrupt. It does not register.
also making the utility companies socialized will make the cost grow and fail at the same time. do you want prices to come down? let’s turn back on the energy producing power plant that has the least amount of emissions none, 03 mile Island. let’s retrofit power plants with cleaner natural gas. all until we can advance technology and enough time for better options.
Thanks ex-governor Pataki for deregulating Con Ed. you’ve done so much good for the state of NY by enriching yourself and making your constituents even poorer.
Major utilities, real estate developers, and corperations need money bigly. Trump 2024
no way. i dont need another geriatric in power. we need a young and talented GOP leader that can speak coherently and not mumble nonsense on twitter.
Just because Trump is a part of the elite billionaire class like ConEd’s CEOs, that’s a bad thing?!
Everyone realizes we are paying everyone else’s energy bills. Pay your own way.
Lets go back to using candles ?ConEd is nothing but con artist . They got nerve to increase rates again & every summer we face the possibility of blackouts . Wheres the upgrades ? &Is our money going to s
CEO who needs a another yacht
Con Ed did not close down Indian Point. Gov Como did that. Result…not enough local backup especially on these hot days. Not a single Como windmill has been built as Como promised. In fact no plans have been designed let alone filed.
Do you know how much of your coned delivery charge goes directly to NYC for property and “hole” charges..charges from NYC!
Utility’s have the best of all worlds. They socialize their expenses and privatize their profits.
I was one of maybe 20 tenants in my 100 unit building selected for an ‘upgrade’ to a Con Ed smart meter. As a renter, I did not have a voice in the matter. Since that ‘upgrade’, my electric bill has increased 2x! I feel like I am partially subsidizing the building’s electricity useage now or something. Maybe Con Ed is finally just planning to spread that among other renters now. I have felt abused since that took place maybe 2yrs ago now. I havent changed apartments, habits or energy useage, so why the sudden 2x spike after a different meter targeted my unit and not others? Either they have been u der-charging, or these new ‘smart meters’ are a con.
ConEd is a con operation, and I feel Conned.
You are charged a monthly fee if you do not upgrade to a smart meter. As a tenant i made my landlord change my meters. He was denying ConEd access.
Let’s go further: public ownership of utilities.