PUBLIC UTILITIES UPDATES
- Public Input Needed for Con Edison and National Grid Rate Increase Proposals
- Public Service Commission Imposes Moratorium on ESCO Sales to Low-Income Consumers; Prevents New and Renewal of Contracts Until Court Case Resolved
Residents:
With the onslaught of summer to remind us of how electricity bills will spike, action is essential now in three rate-increase cases: two from Con Ed and one from National Grid-NY in which they’ve requested significant increases.
In the good news category, though, we are pleased to report that the Public Service Commission (PSC) has taken a major step forward in protecting low-income customers against predatory energy service companies (ESCOs) by instituting a moratorium that forbids ESCOs from serving low-income households because of the overcharging endemic to that industry.
Rate-increase Cases
For public Comments: Listed below are a select key points; more are attached. To post a Comment, please use the following link for the PSC website: http://on.ny.gov/28Uoj0O. On the right-hand side you will see a “Post Comments” button; follow the instructions. Alternatively, you can send a letter to Chairwoman Audrey Zibelman and carbon copy Secretary Kathleen Burgess (secretary@dps.ny.gov), with the case numbers in the letters’ subject lines.
I Con Edison (Case numbers 16-G-0060 and16-G-0061)
Note: Public statement hearings for Con Ed’s proposal have already occurred. Public Comments are still essential.
Under the current rate structure, a significant percentage of Con Edison’s customers cannot afford their utility bills.
Con Ed’s current enrollment and its enrollment targets for its Reduced Rate Plans—and their funding—are woefully inadequate. Anyone eligible for food stamps, or SNAP, should be enrolled in Con Edison’s Electric Reduced Rate Plan. A minimum of 158,204 customers eligible for food stamps are not participating.
* Con Edison has neither offered nor suggested improved enrollment procedures. Its current proposal does not include an increase in discounts or an expansion of eligibility criteria for its Reduced Rate Plans to offset the rate increases it is requesting.
II National Grid—NY (Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island)
Note: The PSC/Department of Public Service has just scheduled 3 public statement hearings on National Grid-NY’s proposed increases. Anyone from the public may attend and speak at these. People fill out cards as they arrive. There is generally a presentation about the proposal at the beginning and then the Administrative Law Judge calls out the speakers in order of their signup, though public officials often get priority. Please feel free to use the information below and attached.
The Details:
When: Wed. August 10, 2-5, 7-9:30 (Note: 2 separate hearings)
Where: St. Francis College (180 Remsen St, Brooklyn Heights, New York City, NY)
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When: Thurs. August 11, 2 p.m. (Note: 1 hearing)
Where: CUNY School of Law (2 Court Square, 23-21 44th Drive, Long Island City, NY)
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According to PULP’s analysis, rates for low-income customers would increase as follows: 17% (heating) and 19.8% (non-heating) if they are participants in Grid’s Reduced Rates Plans.
Rates would increase by 19.7% (heating) and 25.6% (non-heating) for non low-income customers, or for customers that are eligible but not enrolled.
Almost 50 percent of National Grid’s customers cannot afford their utility bills. Residential customers’ total debt in 2015 was more than double what it was in 2003. The arrearage per customer in 2003—$195 each—has increased 128 percent.
In 2015, Grid sent over 808,000 final shut-off notices to residential customers, more than double the nearly 400,000 issued in 2003.
As of December 2015, nearly 155,000 residential customers—16% of Grid’s total residential customers—were 60+ days late paying their bills; in December 2003, that number was nearer 130,000.
Requires ratepayers to pay 100 percent of environmental clean-up costs—the “Site Investigation and Remediation,” or “SIR” charges, which will add in excess of $700 million in additional costs to customers’ bills over the coming decades.
Note: Each “customer” represents a “household”—a home that includes about 2.6 people—2.6 children, grandparents, disabled people, veterans—your constituents’ and members’ families. Therefore, we must take the number of “customers” noted and multiply it to get a more complete view of how many actual people are, and will be, hurt by Con Ed’s and National Grid’s rates, by some of their questionable practices, and by their new proposals if approved. And given that in many low-income homes there are often several families, even that number is likely an undercount.
Public Service Commission Orders Protections for Low-Income ESCO Customers
At its July 14, 2016, monthly meeting, the Public Service Commission (PSC) placed a moratorium on new sales by energy services companies (ESCOs) to low- and fixed-income consumers. This follows the PSC’s landmark February 23rd Reset Order reforming the oversight of ESCOs.
The PSC’s February Reset Order created important consumer protections, outlined the deceptive business practices of ESCOs, and began the process of moving the industry away from behaviors complained about by many thousands of New Yorkers.
In response to the PSC’s Feb. 23rd Reset Order, the ESCO industry associations went to court and obtained a Temporary Restraining Order on the PSC so that it could not enforce it, leaving New York’s low- and fixed-income consumers still vulnerable to the ESCOs. The July 14 Order setting a moratorium protects low- and fixed-income consumers pending the resolutions of the court case and several issues left unfinished in the Feb. 23rd Order.
Click here for Talking Points on National Grid: Talking points on National Grid–NY
Click here for Talking Points on Con Ed: Talking Points on Con Ed Rate Case