Westchester residents and businesses that receive electric and gas service from Consolidated Edison might be paying more for their utilities next year.
The utility company, which provides gas and electric service to residents and businesses in New York City and Westchester, has filed with the state Public Service Commission for an average 3.2 percent rate hike that would take effect in 2016. Con Edison hopes to raise $368 million in revenue with the increased rates.
Con Ed would use the revenue raised from higher rates to help support system reliability, storm hardening, better technology and online service enhancements, the company said. It would be the company’s first rate increase since April 1, 2012.
“This plan will adequately fund investment for the enhanced security, reliability and resiliency of the electric delivery system,” said Craig Ivey, Con Ed president, in a press release announcing the filing. “It also is designed to support better service through an improved website with greater mobile functionality and an expanded menu of self-service transactions, increasing accessibility for customers. We want to implement new programs and technologies while mitigating the impact on customer bills.”
According to information released by Con Ed, a typical bill for a Westchester residential customer using 450 kilowatt-hours per month would rise from $114.98 to $119.68, a 4.1 percent increase. For a typical commercial customer using 10,800 kilowatt-hours per month with a peak demand of 30 kilowatts, the monthly bill would rise from $2,173.08 to $2,236.71, a 2.9 percent increase.
How can this be the 1st rate increase since 4-1-2012? My latest ConEd electric bill (Feb 2015) reflects a huge increase in the supply charge from 6.7696 cents per kWh to 10.7522 cents per kWh.