NYSEG holds town halls as residents search for answers to high bills

YORKTOWN, N.Y. — As residents of northern Westchester and Putnam counties grapple with rising winter energy bills, New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) hosted town halls this week in Yorktown and Carmel. Representatives were in person to directly answer questions, review bills, and assist customers.  

The event was facilitated by Assemblyman Matt Slater in conjunction with NYSEG. Slater’s chief of staff Kyra Brunner told Yorktown News during the March 12 event that the office has a strong working relationship with the utility company.  

“What better way to answer those questions then to direct them right to NYSEG,” Brunner said. 

She added that many of the calls—which prompted the pop-up events on March 12 and 13—were from residents who said, “I wasn’t expecting this...I wasn’t expecting this bill, can you please help me.”  

The demand, she said, is high, which makes the supply rates go up. As the weather gets nicer, Brunner said residents won’t need their heat, but as the heat of the summer approaches, they will need their air conditioning, which will create another spike.  

“Having that unpredictability is really scaring a lot of our residents and making them very concerned,” she said. 

Slater was in Albany at the time of the event, but told Yorktown News after the fact that “these back breaking electric bills are making it that much harder for people to survive in the Hudon Valley.” 

He added that he appreciates the continued efforts of NYSEG “to educate the public, but it is time for Albany to recognize the failure of its policies and the impact they are having.”  

Max Weissman, a communications specialist at Avangrid, the company that owns NYSEG, explained that the spike is due to an increase in supply. “We don’t profit from it.”  

He said they hear the frustrations from customers.  

“At the end of the day we serve our customers, and we really want to be there for them,” he said. “We want to be in the community and talk in person.”   

Yorktown Heights resident Jay Kopstein said the event was a productive one. He finds that his bills are accurate, but inconsistent. “You may get two bills in one month,” he said but may not get one for the prior or following month.  

The inconsistences that Kopstein spoke about, he said creates issue for residents who are budgeting.  

He added that he believes people “don’t understand the intricacies of a bill” and said, “the Public Service Commission will not allow them to spell everything out on a bill.” 

“Albany doesn't want the average ratepayer to realize how much of that bill is taxes and not electricity,” he said. “That's not the fault of utility. That the fault of Albany. That’s the fault of the PSC.”