New Yorkers could see their Con Edison gas and electricity bills more than double in the next two years. That’s due to a greenlit rate hike by the state’s top public utility regulator.
Next month, Con Ed will increase rates citywide by 9% as part of the three-year rate plan approved by the state Public Service Commission on Thursday. For a resident who uses uses 600-kilowatt hours of electricity per month, that’s an extra $14.44.
Monthly bills rise by another $7.20 (4.2%) in January next year and roughly $2.43 (1.4%) come January 2025.
By 2025, a current monthly electricity and gas bill of $70 will be $140.
Why did price hike? Con Ed has not been able to rake in higher rates for the first half of this year.
The regulatory commission defended Con Ed’s push for rate increases, saying the hikes were needed to help the electricity giant cope with their own rising company costs, as well as to improve electric and gas operations across the board and the state’s climate change goals.
Con Ed blamed the increases on the Big Apple’s property taxes.
“A large part of the rate increase is driven by taxes, most notably City of New York property taxes, which are now $1.9 billion as of financial year 2019–2020 and continue to increase every year,” the company noted on its website.”
