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Why your Con Ed bill rose this month — and how it’s only the beginning

By

Elizabeth Shwe

,

Sean Carlson

and

Nsikan Akpan

Published Aug 23, 2023

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Con Edison truck on the Upper East Side, Sept. 15, 2017.

 

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

By

Elizabeth Shwe

,

Sean Carlson

and

Nsikan Akpan

Published Aug 23, 2023

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Residents of New York City and Westchester County may have noticed a recent jump in their gas and electricity bills — one that had nothing to do with running air conditioners on hot summer days.

This month, Con Edison increased electricity billing rates by more than 9% and gas rates by more than 8%. The move represents the first of three hikes set to occur between now and 2025.

The New York State Public Service Commission, which approved the three-year plan, stated that the average New York residential customer — who uses about 600 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per month — can expect billing increases of:

Likewise, the average residential customer — who uses about 100 therms per month — can look forward to billing increases of:

Con Ed states the company needs the extra revenue to pay for upgrades, including measures to meet New York’s climate laws. Deliberations over the plan took more than a year-and-a-half, and the Public Service Commission stated that it had obtained a much better deal than originally proposed, cutting Con Ed’s initial rate request by 60%.

The public commentary period yielded about 7,500 responses, and a casual peruser would struggle to find a message of support. One letter of dissent — signed by more than half of the New York City Council — expressed concerns that the rate deal lacked a commitment by Con Ed to directly reach out to customers about energy affordability programs. In July 2022, a report by the state comptroller found that more than 1.2 million utility customers statewide were behind on bills, owing $1.8 billion. Customers from New York City and Long Island accounted for 60% of that group and 68% of the amount owed.

Laurie Wheelock is the executive director of the Public Utility Law Project of New York, which provides legal representation for low-income utility customers. Wheelock spoke with WNYC’s Sean Carlson on "All Things Considered" on Tuesday about how Con Ed is able to increase rates and what residents can do to lower their bills.

An interview transcript is available below. It was lightly edited for clarity.

Can we start by talking about what these utility bill hikes are and what customers can expect coming this month?

So under the new rates, the average electric customer should see about $17 more a month, and people who heat their homes and apartments with natural gas could see on average about $41 more a month. If you just have cooking gas with Con Edison, that could be as much as $6 more a month.

Con Edison actually has to ask New York state to increase their rates. They have to submit a filing [to the state’s Public Service Commission] that explains what they're going to use their increased funds for, such as infrastructure and labor costs.

Then they go through a proceeding, so it's a long process to really review what they're asking for and ultimately what they'll end up getting.

Con Ed, as you said, is a regulated utility company. It basically runs a monopoly over New York City's energy. So, how normal or not normal is this hike?

Con Edison last approved a rate increase in January 2020, right before the pandemic, and we saw anywhere from $5 or more a month for electric customers to maybe $11 or $12 more if you were heating with Con Ed gas.

But these rates are almost double or triple that, and so it’s concerning because the economy is still coming out of COVID-19. There's still a lot of financial struggle. This summer, we've heard from people all over not just the city, but New York state, who were spending more time inside and using electricity because of the smoke from Canada or the heat waves.

People are really starting to notice these costs on their bill, and they're worried about it.

Let's talk about what Con Ed is. Sure, we live in a capitalist society where theoretically if you don't like a service or feel you’re paying too much, you can go to another one. What's the deal with Con Ed? Why can't we do that?

Con Edison is a regulated utility, and so with the state, there's almost this deal. You are the only name in town when it comes to electric service for New York City.

As you get that monopoly status, Con Edison is going to be heavily regulated. They're allowed just and reasonable rates, but they must provide safe and reliable service.

The Public Service Commission, which is the seven-member body that is appointed by the governor and oversees all the utilities, that is their mission. They're looking for a strike and a balance, and for that balance, Con Edison is given this monopoly status.

As you said, the money that they're raising here by hiking these rates is going to improve things like infrastructure, so theoretically making service better for customers?

Exactly. When the company files and we become a party, we're going through, and we're trying to see where this money is being directed to.

We're really concerned about consumer protections. So we want to know how many employees do they have? How's the customer service?

Something that we are really happy that came out of this proceeding was that the company agreed not to terminate customers when it's 90 degrees or higher outside.

Where we're a little concerned is with the overall cost: It's still very high. We’re also encouraging Con Edison to go out and apply for federal funding. Our hope is that the company can go and offset some of these capital costs.

If folks are listening right now, and they're hearing these numbers about how much their electric bill is going to go up and they're saying “Oh my God, I'm not gonna be able to afford that,” is there anything that they can do?

If you are low income and you're on Social Security income or SNAP food benefits, we can get you into this discount program that helps lower your bill every month.

We've been helping customers look to see if they're in that discount. On top of that, energy efficiency is extremely important. Helping people take control of their power usage, trying to lower how much electricity they're using, will help them ultimately lower their bills.

Tagged

energy

Health and Science

new york city

economy

environment

con edison

Elizabeth Shwe

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Sean Carlson

Before coming to New York Public Radio, Sean worked in print, online and radio news around the mid-Atlantic region and Alaska. A New Jersey native, he holds a B.A. from the New School University in Greenwich Village and an M.A. from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.

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Nsikan Akpan

Twitter

Nsikan is the former editor of the health and science desk at WNYC/Gothamist. Nsikan was previously at National Geographic where he worked as a science editor, overseeing its COVID-19 coverage in addition to other topics in science, health and technology. Before National Geographic, he worked for more than four years at PBS NewsHour, where he co-created an award-winning video series named ScienceScope. He shared a 2020 Emmy for the PBS NewsHour series “Stopping a Killer Pandemic” and in 2019 received a George Foster Peabody Award for the PBS NewsHour series “The Plastic Problem.” Nsikan has also worked for NPR, Science News Magazine, Science Magazine, KUSP Central Coast Public Radio, the Santa Cruz Sentinel and as a writer at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University. He holds a doctorate in pathobiology from Columbia University and is an alum of the science communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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