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The utility company - which supplies gas, electric, and steam to more than 3.5 million New York residents and businesses - announced that beginning in 2023, it plans to increase its electric bills by more than 11 percent, and gas by at least 18 percent.
The increase is required to fund “investments in clean energy, as well as infrastructure upgrades that will help keep customers in service during severe weather,” according to Con Ed.
However, the proposal has been met with resistance from New York residents and elected officials who have called the price hike “unreasonable.”
“New Yorkers already have some of the most expensive electric and gas bills in the nation,” Long Island Congressman and gubernatorial hopeful Tom Suozzi said in a statement.
“Asking my constituents to swallow a dramatic, single-year increase to their electric and gas bill is unreasonable when they already pay nearly 50 percent more than the average US household.”
According to a New York Daily News report, some residents and landlords have seen their Con Ed bills spiking by upwards of 300 percent, leaving some in a lurch and others forced to make emergency concessions.
The proposed price hike led some New York lawmakers to call on the state’s Public Service Commission - which is required to approve any increase in billing - to investigate the situation.
“We received many dozens of complaints from neighbors who were blindsided by a doubling or tripling of their January Con Edison bill,” City Councilman Lincoln Restler said. “We’ve organized colleagues to push back and call on the (New York State Department of Public Service) to take immediate action.”
Con Ed’s electric prices are among the highest of any major utility company in the country outside of Alaska or Hawaii, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Sen. Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris added that “many are seeing Con Edison bills dramatically increasing by up to 300 percent - in some cases reaching over $700!”
“I’m calling on the Public Service Commission to investigate the skyrocketing bills affecting thousands of New Yorkers,” he said. “People deserve relief.”
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