WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. - Westchester legislators have again joined state and local leaders in calling for the Public Service Commission to reject Con Edison’s rate hike request.
A decision by the state regulatory agency reportedly could come as early as this week.
Press conferences were held on Monday, Jan. 12 outside the utility’s offices in White Plains and in Albany and a letter signed by a broad spectrum of Democratic and Republican elected officials from around the state was sent detailing concerns for constituents who are struggling to keep their heat and lights on.
Utility bills have often doubled or tripled in recent years, they argued.
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, never one to mince words, call the latest rate hike request a “blatant cash grab.”
The joint proposal, reached late last year, did reduce the original double-digit increase Con Edison sought, but not enough for opponents who want the PSC to reject or “significantly modify” it and to “ensure that ratepayers are not asked to pay unaffordable increases to guarantee outsized returns for shareholders,” Jenkins said.
Charging Con Edison with “creating an affordability crisis,” Jenkins claimed that “families, seniors, and small businesses across Westchester County have reached their breaking point.”
“Utility bills have skyrocketed in recent years, sometimes doubling or even tripling, and people are being forced to make impossible choices between paying their rent, buying groceries, or keeping the lights on,” he said, adding: “The joint proposal before the Public Service Commission would only make this crisis worse, not better.”
Jenkins said that the three-year plan would set rate increases for the average bill at 4.3 percent, 5 percent, and 3.3 percent for electricity and 0.3 percent, 7.2 percent, and 3.7 percent for gas delivery.
They would, opponents said, exceed inflation.
If approved, the Con Ed rates would be applied starting in May.
County BOL Chair Vedat Gashi of Yorktown said that the show of unity was intended to send “an unmistakable message to the Public Service Commission; reject these rate hikes and protect our residents.”
Among those leading the charge in the Albany were Democratic Assembly members Shelly Mayer of Yonkers, Chris Burdick of Bedford, Dana Levenberg of Ossining, and MaryJane Shimsky of Dobbs Ferry.
Republican Assemblyman Matt Slater of Yorktown, a vocal critic of both the proposed Con Edison and New York State Electric & Gas (NYSE&G) rate hikes, has, along with Harckham, called on the PSC to hold at least one, and hopefully several, mandatory in-person hearings before it acts in the latter case.
The PSC has held two virtual hearings on the NYSE&G rate hikes, but the closest in-person hearing to Harckham’s and Slater’s legislative districts was in Oneonta, almost 140 miles away.
Slater has also criticized utility profits – ie, NYSE&Gs 185 percent over a 10-year period, as well as supporting bills requiring utilities to provide public reporting on capital expenditures and legislation that mandates them to notify customers of supply cost increases and to post bill assistance program information.
(NYSE&G serves about 90,000 customers in the two legislators’ districts, which includes northern Westchester and parts of Putnam counties.)
“We urge the PSC to take up this matter at its January 22 meeting and reject the proposal. New Yorkers deserve better,” Mayer said in a Facebook post.
Burdick cited Con Edison’s own numbers to make his point.
“As of November 2025, 416,598 residential customer accounts were behind on their bills by 60 days or more, totaling $889,413,409 owed by struggling customers,” he noted on Facebook, revealing that in last November, the utility terminated service to “12,642 customer accounts and issued 111,941 customer disconnection notices.”
“The proposal going to the PSC will deepen this crisis. We are urging the PSC to do the right thing, reject the proposal, and freeze rates,” Burdick said.
State Sen. Peter Harckham, who joined his colleagues in Albany to urge the PSC to reject the proposed hikes, stated that “at a time when residents are struggling with affordability, allowing Con Ed to excessively raise rates in unacceptable.”
He’s pointed out that the Con Edison rate increase will impact more than 368,000 customers in Westchester and more than 3.6 million in the metropolitan area.
Meanwhile, the PSC is mulling a request from NYSE&G to jack up its rates by a reported 35 percent for electricity and by 39.4 percent for natural gas.
This has also faced strong opposition from officials, consumer groups, and the public.
Drivers behind the rate hike requests that have been cited by both utilities include infrastructure investment, improved safety, customer experience, and climate initiatives.
NYSE&G filed its request last July.
That means that a decision – which must follow the usual 11-month review period – isn’t expected until mid-year.
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