Congressman Ritchie Torres to Con Edison and Gov. Hochul’s Public Service Commission: Proposed Rate Hike Cannot Stand

This morning, Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) hosted a press conference at his Bronx office pushing back on the recent proposed rate hikes from Con Edison. He was joined by constituents facing high Con Edison bills that adversely affect their ability to afford their life’s expenses. Rep. Torres has long been sounding the alarm on Con Edison’s disparate charges to Bronx residents. Last year, he released an investigative report on this topic.

On the proposed rate hikes, Rep. Torres said:

“Layering double-digit rate increases upon gas delivery overcharges, as Con Ed is proposing to do, would impose an undue hardship on the people of New York, who are paying more and more for less and less. The time has come for Governor Hochul’s Public Service Commission to side not with special interests like Con Ed, which has been squeezing the working class with impunity, but with the people of New York, who demand and deserve affordability.”

Photos from this morning’s press conference are attached. Videos can be found here.

Last Wednesday, Rep. Torres sent a letter to Rory Christian, Commissioner of the Public Service Commission. The letter reads (full PDF here):

“I am writing to voice strenuous objections to Con Ed’s outrageous proposal to raise gas and electric rates on New Yorkers who are struggling to afford the rapidly rising cost of living in America’s most expensive city. Con Ed is proposing to raise New Yorkers’ utility bills by double digits: electric bills by 11.4% and gas bills by 13.3%. Governor Kathy Hochul’s Public Service Commission must reject any proposed rate hike that far exceeds the rate of inflation. Ramming a double-digit rate increase down the throats of New Yorkers, who are reeling from years of inflation, would mean breaking the Governor’s promise of an ‘inflation refund’ and ‘no new taxes.’ A rate hike is a tax on New Yorkers.

“At a time when New York is struggling to recover from the highest inflation in more than four decades, the attempted double-digit rate hike reveals a profound disregard for the plight of most working-class and middle-class New Yorkers. The notion that New Yorkers should be expected to perpetually absorb the shock of relentlessly rising costs is tone-deaf and out of touch. Since 2022, under Governor Kathy Hochul, the average Con Ed customer has been paying $50 more per month for gas heating. According to a March 2024 report by Switchbox, one-quarter of New Yorkers cannot afford their utility bills. Working-class New Yorkers like Wardean Squire-Askew from the Bronx—who served in the U.S. military for 23 years and in Health and Hospitals for 43 years—have been forced to tap into their emergency savings to pay the cost of utilities.

New York City has two state-sanctioned gas monopolies: Con Ed and National Grid. Two gas utilities providing the same service to the same city should, in theory, have the same pricing. Yet the prices between Con Ed and National Grid vary by orders of magnitude. Con Ed, on average, charges 100% more for gas delivery than National Grid. The difference between what Con Ed charges the ratepayers of the Bronx and what National Grid charges the ratepayers of Queens is as much as 200%. The prices vary not only within the same city but also within the same borough—Queens—where the price differential in delivery costs between Con Ed and National Grid exceeds 100%. Con Ed’s overcharging is so excessive that it can cannibalize as much as 16.9% of the net operating income of a pre-1974 rent-stabilized building at a time when multi- family housing is caught in a downward spiral.

“Layering double-digit rate increases upon gas delivery overcharges, as Con Ed is proposing to do, would impose an undue hardship on the people of New York, who are paying more and more for less and less. The time has come for Governor Hochul’s Public Service Commission to side not with special interests like Con Ed, which has been squeezing the working class with impunity, but with the people of New York, who demand and deserve affordability.”