Con Edison has agreed to a three-year rate plan for Westchester County and New York City customers with annual increases of 2.8% on the average electric bill and 2% for gas.
The settlement, at rates lower than the double-digit percentage rate increases that Con Edison was seeking, awaits the approval of the state Public Service Commission.
The outcome follows months of negotiations between 40 Westchester municipalities and others after Con Edison announced in January it was seeking an 11.4% increase in the average electric bill and 13.3% for gas.
That January proposal assumed a single-year settlement. The agreement reached last week covers a three-year period that begins Jan. 1, 2026 with identical annual increases of 2.8% for electric and 2% for gas.
In April, Con Edison had updated its initial January request with new proposed one-year increases of 11.3% for electric and 10.5% for gas.
New York energy affordability crisis
State lawmakers from the Lower Hudson Valley joined Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year in urging the PSC to reject Con Edison’s double-digit percentage rate hikes.
Con Edison, the state’s largest private utility with 3.7 million customers, said the settlement balances concerns for affordability with the need to increase revenue to pay for system upgrades.
“Con Edison is acutely aware of the issue of affordability, which is why last year we provided more than $300 million of discounts to income eligible customers in our energy assistance programs,” the utility said in a statement. “This year, we advocated for the recently approved expanded energy affordability program which will raise the income thresholds and allow for more customers to become eligible for bill discounts.”
Nicola Armacost, the mayor of Hastings-on-Hudson and the president of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association, said the settlement was the result of Westchester municipalities coming together.
“There is no doubt that Westchester’s municipalities banding together had a substantial impact on the results,” Armacost said. “This collaboration ensured our communities were heard at the state level and will continue to give us a voice in how utility investments are made in Westchester.”
Surging utility costs have ratepayer advocates warning of an energy affordability crisis. Across the state, more than 1 million customers are behind two months or more on gas and electric bills.
And state officials are predicting that the average heating bills will increase by 8% this winter. Between November and March, monthly bills will be around $224, a total of $1,120 for the season.
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Con Edison agrees to trim rate hikes proposed for Westchester County. What to know
Reporting by Thomas C. Zambito, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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