Local representative pushes back on soaring electric, gas rates

Electric and gas bills for upstate New Yorkers are likely to increase in the very near future. Local leaders representing the town of Ulysses and the village of Trumansburg in Albany say the already-approved increases to National Grid bills and the proposed increased rates for customers of New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG), which covers Tompkins County, couldn’t come at a worse time. 

NYSEG filed a request on June 30 with the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) to increase delivery rates by about 35% for electricity customers and almost 40% for gas customers. Those rates would take effect May 1 next year, if approved by the PSC. 

National Grid electric and gas customers across the state are already bracing for a rate hike. The company struck a deal with the PSC on Aug. 1 to increase electric bills by 31% over the next three years and gas bills by about 40%. That amounts to $600 combined per year for the average upstate household, according to records submitted to the PSC.

“In my office, we are constantly hearing stories from constituents about incorrect bills, late bills, multiple months of bills arriving in their mailboxes in staggering amounts, and service challenges,” State Senator Lea Webb told Tompkins Weekly in an email. 

“National Grid’s rate increase and NYSEG’s requested increase could not come at a worse time. Bills are already sky high,” said Webb, who represents the 58th district in the State Senate. 

Both utility companies have justified the rate increases either as part of major expansion projects or to help shore up the replacement of aging equipment and infrastructure. 

NYSEG’s increase in rates would bring in about $557.4 million in additional annual revenue, according to the office of State Sen. Pete Harckham, who has drafted legislation to rein in the cost of energy for state residents. 

Harckham represents the New York City suburbs, including parts of Rockland and Westchester Counties. 

National Grid expects to bring in $1.7 billion in additional revenue from the increase in rates. 

State senators like Webb and Harckham say they are concerned about the rate increases. 

“Families and small businesses across our region are already facing high costs for food, housing, and other essentials, and this added burden will only make it harder to make ends meet,”  Webb said in a statement referencing the National Grid increases. “While I understand the need for infrastructure upgrades and reliable service, we must ensure that any rate increases are fair, transparent, and balanced with the urgent need to protect consumers. I will continue to advocate for solutions that prioritize affordability, accountability, and the well-being of our communities.”

Those concerns have also reached Gov. Kathy Hochul. 

“While I appreciate that the New York Public Service Commission worked to significantly lower the outrageously high initial rate proposals, it’s still not enough. I have been crystal clear that utilities must make ratepayer affordability the priority,” the governor said in a statement. “Since taking office, my administration has prioritized energy affordability, particularly for our most vulnerable, and we need the utilities to take it seriously as well. That means at a time when worried New Yorkers are being forced to tighten their budgets, all utilities must follow suit. This is no time for bonuses and big raises for executives, especially if they are going to be looking to raise rates on their customers.”

The increased rates also come at a time when the federal government plans to slash lifelines that lower energy costs. National media reported in the spring that a proposed budget document from the White House zeroed out next year’s budget line for the low-income home energy assistance program, known as LIHEAP, by not providing any funding and by firing the employees in charge of administering the program. 

Webb told Tompkins Weekly that the state legislature voted in its last session on a slew of measures that could help lower energy costs and impose greater transparency on the rate setting process. These include: 

• Consumer Notice of Utility Rate Increases (S1194B): The legislation would require gas and electric corporations to provide customers with a minimum of 45 days’ advance notice before implementing any rate or service charge increases.

• Notification of Service Interruptions (S1848): Requires utilities to notify property owners prior to beginning any non-emergency construction or other work that may interfere with a property owner’s ability to use or access such owner’s property.
  
• Prohibition of Utility Disconnections During Extreme Weather (S120A): Prohibits termination of electricity or heat service during forecasts of more than 95 degrees or less than 32 degrees.
  
• Banning Utility Companies from Charging Ratepayers for Lobbying (S1012A): Prohibits public utilities from using funds or being reimbursed by funds raised from ratepayers for certain activities.
  
• Limiting Fixed Charges by Utilities (S1329): Aims to regulate how utility corporations set residential fixed charges for their services.
  
• Automatic Re-enrollment for Recipients of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (S1966): Requires social services districts to, every heating season, automatically re-enroll persons or households currently receiving assistance through the low-income home energy assistance program, so long as each person or household maintains eligibility.
  
• Economic Consideration in Utility Rate Setting (S1847): Requires consideration of evidence relating to the economic impact of major increases of rates or charges upon consumers and the areas affected by such increases of rates or charges prior to approval of any such rates or charges; establishes minimum data to be considered by the public service commission relating to such economic impact.
  
• Return on Equity Standards for Utilities (S1896): Requires electric corporations, gas corporations, steam corporations and waterworks corporations to adopt the common equity ratio and rate of return on equity authorized by the public service commission unless such utility can successfully demonstrate that such authorized rates do not meet their capital and/or operating needs.
  
• Limiting Executive Compensation and Legal Fee Recovered from Ratepayers (S3734): Relates to prohibiting the public service commission from approving a rate increase which allows a utility to recover certain operating expenses.
  
• PSC Penalty Consideration of Non-Economic Loss (S7165A): Authorizes the public service commission to consider non-economic loss suffered by consumers, including pain and suffering or mental anguish, when determining penalties against a public utility company, corporation or person or a combination gas and electric corporation.
  
• Gas and Electric Utility Customer Usage Monitoring Program (S8062): Establishes a usage monitor program for the purposes of notifying customers when energy usage exceeds a cost or usage threshold in a given billing period determined by the customer.