Get ready, New Yorkers, Con Edison set to raise rates

New Yorkers could soon pay more to keep the lights on.

Electric bills in most of New York City and Westchester would rise roughly 4.2% this year, 4% in 2024 and 3.8% in 2025 under a joint proposal between Con Edison and staffers of the state Public Service Commission after months of negotiation.

The proposal, which faces a full commission vote in the coming weeks, would also raise Con Ed gas bills in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens and Westchester — by about 6.7% this year, 6.3% in 2024 and 5.9% in 2025.

Exactly how the increases will be divided among Con Edison’s customer base isn’t yet clear. Con Ed’s residential customers pay different rates than its business and government customers.

But AARP — which tracks utility prices — estimates that the average Con Ed electricity customer in New York City and Westchester County would see a $6 per month increase this year, and that rates in 2025 would be up to $18 per month higher than now.

Heating gas customers could pay as much as $13.50 more per month this year. By 2025, they could be paying up to $40 a month more than they pay now, according to AARP estimates.

Though the joint proposal between Con Ed and the Public Service Commission staff estimates the impact on customers’ total bills, much of what people and businesses eventually pay depends a lot on the price of generated electricity and natural gas.

Con Ed buys electricity from generating companies and natural gas from suppliers on an open market. It resells those commodities to its customers without markup. That part of utility bills is not regulated by the state.

But the state does regulate Con Ed’s cost of maintaining electrical wires, transformers and other equipment, and the lines that deliver gas to homes and businesses. Utility regulators call that the delivery side of peoples’ utility bills.

The proposal hikes the delivery rates by double digits — 19.8% over three years for electricity, and 31.3% over the same period for gas.

A Con Ed spokesman said the company will use the rise in the delivery revenue to improve its power grid and gas delivery services.

“Con Edison is building an energy system to meet New York’s climate goals, while strengthening the safety, reliability, and resilience of our service, and this investment is critical to meet those goals,” said the spokesman, Allan Drury, in a statement.

“Con Ed customers already pay some of the highest gas and electric bills in the nation,” said AARP New York state director Beth Finkel in a statement.

Finkel criticized the utility in particular for the proposed increase in gas delivery costs, calling it a “double-whammy to ratepayers” given the state’s ongoing move toward a cleaner energy grid.

“Customers would pay for upkeep of gas infrastructure that’s being phased out while also paying to upgrade the electric grid as the state moves forward toward all-electric power,” she said.

AARP, which recently filed a petition with the PSC calling on the state to require utilities to seek money under recent laws that expand federal spending in infrastructure projects.

AARP and another advocacy group, the Public Utility Law Project, said Con Ed has failed to do so.

“What’s particularly frustrating in this rate case is that there’s still no commitment from Con Ed to seek available federal dollars for storm hardening, grid upgrades needed as we move toward electrification and climate resiliency projects,” Finkel said.

Drury told The News that that the federal money available isn’t applicable to the proposed rate hike.

In a statement, Con Ed said the proposed increase in prices “will steer New York away from fossil fuels, promote the use of electric heat pumps, energy-efficient appliances, electric vehicle chargers, battery storage and more.”

“We also recognize that even a modest rate increase poses a challenge for some New Yorkers,” the statement continued, highlighting some of the utility’s flexible payment programs.