Bedford pushes back against utility rate hikes

BEDFORD, N.Y. - As residents grapple with soaring utility bills, Bedford and other Westchester municipalities are mounting efforts to push back against proposed NYSEG and Con Edison rate hikes.

In separate actions last week, Bedford’s Town Board formally opposed a proposed rate hike by New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) and chipped in with other municipalities to pay for a watchdog-lawyer to monitor Con Ed’s rates, development policies and quality of service.

The unanimous votes, at the board’s March 17 meeting, came after both utilities had petitioned the state Public Service Commission for increases in their charges to customers.

Bedford backed residents facing bigger bills. “Electricity costs, both for delivery and supply, are increasing at rates that far outstrip inflation and what the average electric customer can afford,” the board said in a resolution opposing NYSEG’s proposed hike.

New Con Ed rates already went into effect, on Jan. 1, but the 40-member Westchester Municipal Consortium takes credit for successfully challenging the size of the utility’s proposed increases. A 13.4 percent rise sought for electricity was cut to 2.8 percent on a customer’s total bill while the 19 percent jump in gas rates came at 2 percent.

Joel Dichter, the Mount Kisco lawyer who represented the consortium in the rate case, is being retained by the municipal governments to continue monitoring Con Ed.

“Monitoring filings and having appearances at proceedings lets the Public Service Commission know that Westchester is a voice to be heard, not just in the rate cases, but in the development of policies affecting the manner, rates and quality of service,” Supervisor Ellen Calves said in a memo to Town Board members.

Bedford, with a much smaller number of Con ed customers—about 600—compared with other consortium members, will contribute $1,000 a year toward Dichter’s services. Other municipalities are expected to pay about $3,000 each.

NYSEG’s proposed rate increase, still pending before the PSC, “would raise residential utility bills by nearly 39.4 percent for electricity,” the Town Board said in opposing the request. It called on the commission to “stand up for the public and reject these enormous rate hikes that residents and businesses cannot afford and should not have to bear.”

Assessment Board Vacancy

John Loveless has stepped down as chairman of the Board of Assessment, creating a vacancy on the three-member panel.

Board members, who hear the grievances when residents dispute property values set by the town assessor, serve five-year, unpaid terms.

In his resignation letter, Loveless cited “a potential for conflicts” between the town and a state agency he’s joined.

Ethics Panel

A Town Code provision that a town official, elected or appointed, must be among the Board of Ethics’ five members has been removed. The requirement “has not really been the practice,” Calves said, and was likely to create conflicts of interest if ethics questions concerned some other town official or employee.