ConEd Hikes Rates, But Consumers Could Still See Lower Bills
ConEd has just what you need in the middle of recession: a rate hike! Monthly bills are set to rise between $6-$8 as the energy monster tries to recoup a half a billion dollars to cover the cost of higher property taxes and the usual infrastructure maintenance that utilities never budget for in advance. The perennial optimists at the New York Post still somehow think you'll still end up with a lower bill...
In the end, customers likely will save this year thanks to a drop in the prices Con Ed pays electric-generating companies.
A New York City apartment dweller who uses 250 kilowatts of electricity will pay Con Ed about $70 this July, down $4 from last year.
Based on the same set of assumptions, an apartment dweller who uses 500 kilowatt hours of electricity will pay $127 this July, about $9 less than last year.
The New York Times disagrees, along with the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, which approved the rate hike:
"We are always concerned about the impacts on ratepayers of any rate increase, but today's decision is particularly difficult," said Garry A. Brown, the commission's chairman. "In this economy, the idea of raising rates is very distasteful. Unemployment has risen and consumers are having difficulty paying their bills. Nevertheless, there are certain increases in Con Edison's costs that have to be recognized."
ConEd also expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling, saying that the $523 million rate hike is far less than the $819 million they requested.
Regulators Grant Con Edison a $523.4 Million Increase in Delivery Rates [The New York Times]
WATT A SWITCH: LOWER CON ED BILLS EXPECTED [NY Post]
Post a comment
Comments:
Con Ed keeps wanting rate increases, and yet they haven't done enough investing in its infrastructure. When will they ever learn!
Oh well...lights out for more people. Sucks to be them but can't have the board living in squalor y'know!
I'm sorry but can we move on from these tough financial times stuff. If your unemployed and can't pay your bills an 8$ hike is not going to make a difference to you.
A company passing increased taxes onto the consumer. Gee, who could have seen that coming?
Another reason certain things should be left out of the for profit business. Utilities, education, and medicine should all be government programs, funded by taxpayers and not required to make a profit. Utilities are a prime example of why privatization does not work.
Never conserve electricity! Utilities such as Con Ed, will whine that they are losing revenue if there is too much conservation going on. You will simply pay more anyway as they get the utility commission to raise rates again. Just say no!
@gaywolverine: You posted this with a computer. The computer runs on electricity.
See? The system works.
Why is it that utilities get such a bad rap every time they raise rates? My util company raised rates at the start of the new year and you would think the way people complained the new rates were the highest in the US. We actually have the lowest rates of any city in the state. Prices have to go up every so often. No one likes it but get used to it, it's a simple fact of life.
@vastrightwing: Like the folks at Fram Oil Filter used to (do they still?) say "Pay me now or pay me later." The NYC Water Board is already squealing like a stuck pig about the fact that people are using less water so they have to jack up our rates again. Of course, it doesn't help that Mayor Bloomie steals $200,000,000 from them to put into the general fund.
And of course by all of us driving less, the Feds and state/local govts are getting less fuel taxes. So what do they do? Jack up the fees for licenses and registrations, so whether we drive or not, they still get their share.
Perhaps I should stop complaining about my electric rates. If the NY Post's figures are approximately correct, NYC customers are paying almost 3x as much per kWh as north TX customers. OUCH.
GearheadGeek NY'rs pay 3 x's more than Texans, for almost everything. Also the cost to repair the underground infrastructure in NYC is much higher than in less populated area's like Texas where the majority of their electrical grid consists of overhead equipment. Plus the pay offs to mobbed up contractors have to get factored in (tasteless joke), not just the fact that the city is jam packed with under street facilities and bedrock that increases the costs to excavate in it's streets.
vastrightwing - Charles Luce had a saying "Save a Watt". Not because he was a environmentalist but because he was a savvy business man. He understood that when customers conserved energy it saved the mammoth monopoly money in capital expenditures (substations are really expensive to build), thereby saving the rate payer money. Con Edison's profits are fixed by the Public Service Commission, who precludes the utility from benefiting from increases in consumption. So use less, Con Ed will profit the same amount, and your bill will go down (both for your commodities charges and the overall T&D charges)
:)
Ummm... ConEd should appeal their property tax valuation. It's fun, easy, and 90% of casses are successful (at least in my county).