ConEd to New Yorkers: Don't Blame Us for Soaring Power Bills

(Bloomberg) -- As New Yorkers fume over sky-high electric and natural gas bills this month, the utility Consolidated Edison Inc. has a message for customers: don’t blame us.

The Manhattan-based company sent an email to homes and businesses Friday explaining that an unusually cold January and soaring energy costs are the reason bills have spiked.

Governor Kathy Hochul isn’t entirely convinced. She’s calling on ConEd to review its billing practices, saying the surge, which is some cases made January bills 25% more expensive than a year earlier, is yet another economic burden to low-income families. 

“The extreme utility-bill increases we are seeing across the state come at a time when New Yorkers are already struggling financially,” Hochul said in a statement Friday.

It’s not just New York. Power bills are rising sharply across the U.S. this winter, largely because of high gas and coal prices. The cost of electricity rose 10.7% in January from a year ago, the biggest jump in about 16 years.

A Warning 

In the email, ConEd told customers their bills “may be higher than usual this month.” The company explained that it buys power on the wholesale market and then delivers it the same price, “without a profit.” 

And those prices have surged. The cost of power during times of peak demand in New York is averaging $138.70 a megawatt-hour so far this year, up from about $48 a year ago, according to grid data compiled by MCG Energy Solutions. That’s the priciest start to a year since at least 2017. 

One of the main drivers is gas, which has also tripled from a year ago. The fuel is needed to heat homes in the winter and is also the top source of electricity in the region.

The other key reason is the weather. While December was about 4.6 degrees warmer than a year earlier, January temperatures averaged 30.3 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 Celsius), about 4.5 degrees colder than usual. All of that is driving up gas consumption.

ConEd warned New Yorkers in November that they would probably be getting higher bills. The company said gas prices were climbing and customers may see increases for gas heating of 24% on average this winter, and about 15% for electric heating. 

Energy Burden

These bills may add to an energy burden that’s already too high for many people. Even before the latest statements went out, more than 1.2 million New York households had utility bills that were overdue for more than 60 days, according to the Public Utility Law Project. That amounted to about $1.7 billion as of September, a 119% increase from February 2020, before the start of the pandemic.

The hikes also come after the end of the expanded child tax credits program, which functioned as an advance of the tax refund some parents receive for children based on age. Most recipients used the funds for food, utilities and housing; families making less than $50,000 annually tended to pay off debt. 

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