Senator Mayer Urges PSC to Reject Gas & Electric Rate Increase

On Tuesday, June 25th, State Senator Shelley B. Mayer testified at a public hearing regarding ConEdison’s request to increase rates for electricity and gas delivery for its 3.5 million Westchester and New York City customers. 

In January 2019, ConEdison applied to the NYS Public Service Commission to request a total revenue increase of $695 million, resulting in a 5.7% increase on the average residential electric bill, and a 10.9% increase on the average residential gas bill. If approved, ConEdison estimates that the average monthly bill for a residential electric customer would increase by $6.10/month and $17.28/month for the average residential gas customer. 

At the hearing, Senator Mayer said: “For many Westchester residents, these increases pose serious challenges, particularly for older residents living on fixed incomes, and struggling to afford high property taxes and a lack of affordable housing. In my district, 17% of my constituents are age 65 and over, 30% earn $50,000 a year or less and 30% spend more than 50% of their income on housing expenses. When you drill down to the individual people I represent, this proposed increase to their monthly utility bill will pose serious financial challenges to meeting fixed expenses. I believe that a rate increase of this magnitude will have significant impact on their ability to make ends meet."
 

Senator Mayer continued, "This substantial rate increase request is particularly troubling in light of Con Ed’s persistently poor record of restorations after storms and the most recent moratorium announcement. From Superstorm Sandy to Con Ed’s most recent failure to quickly restore electric service after the March 2018 Nor’easters and the Company’s announcement of an ongoing moratorium on all new uninterruptible gas connections, I believe Con Edison’s consumers deserve better – both in terms of responsiveness and rate-setting."
ConEdison’s Major Rate Case Components are comprised of: investing in Information Technology (IT) for customer service and its Outage Management System; investing in storm resiliency; replacing and upgrading electric equipment; replacing 90 miles of leak prone pipe; and funding to perform inspections and leak surveys. 

The last electric and gas delivery rate increases granted to ConEdison by the Public Service Commission were approved in 2016.

Click here for Senator Mayer’s full testimony.