Residents speak out about NYSEG rate hikes at Somers forum

Harding Mason speaks at the Westchester County Board of Legislators public input sessions on NYSE&G's proposed rate hikes in Somers.

Photo courtesy of Westchester County Board of Legislators

Posted Tuesday, October 14, 2025 1:16 pm

By Carol Reif

SOMERS, N.Y. - Multiple speakers recently stepped up to the mic in Somers to express their frustration with rising energy costs in general and the kind of service they claim is provided by New York State Electric & Gas in particular.

Held on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at Heritage Hills, where there are lots of retirees on limited incomes, the public input session was hosted by the Westchester County Board of Legislators.

Representing the county were BOL Chair Vedat Gashi of District 4 (New Castle, Ossining, Somers, Yorktown) and Legislators Erika L. Pierce, of District 2 (Bedford, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, North Salem, Pound Ridge, Somers), and Jewel Williams Johnson of District 8 (Elmsford, Greenburgh, Tarrytown, White Plains.)

Johnson attended in solidarity even though her district is served by Con Edison.

Residents reported electric bills doubling or tripling over six years. They repeatedly denounced NYSE&G’s service as poor, and pointed to what they called confusing billing practices, missed meter readings, mistakes with the auto-pay system, and dismissive or evasive employee responses to customer questions.

According to the county, which has intervened in both utilities’ rate cases before the state Public Service Commission, NYSE&G is seeking increases in delivery rates that would drive up average residential electricity bills by 23.7 percent and gas bills by 33.5 percent in 2026.

It would result in a total annual revenue increase for NYSE&G of roughly $464 million on the electric side and $93 million on the gas side.

Delivery is a different animal than the “supply” side of the bill, which is the electricity that folks actually use and have some control over.

Pierce, a NYSE&G customer herself, suggested that people take a gander at the NYSE&G audit released by the PCS last winter that asked “some serious questions about where the money we’re currently paying them (for customer service) is going.”

“How are we supposed to agree to give them more money when they can’t even be accountable for the money we’re currently giving them?” she asked.

The utility calls its request the “Powering New York” plan. It’s designed to rebuild the aging grid, which is increasingly vulnerable to storm damage, and to expand capacity to meet residential and commercial needs.

NYSE&G claims that fixing the storm damage alone costs it $200 million a year.

Pierce blamed some of that damage on the utility’s “anemic” tree-maintenance program. A five-year cycle simply isn’t cutting it because of how fast things grow, she said.

The BOL held a session relative to the Con Ed case in Mount Kisco and one in Bedford concerning NYSE&G.

(The vast majority of Westchester falls under Con Ed’s territory. There were so many municipalities that they were able to form a coalition so they could cost-share a lawyer to represent them in the Con Ed case. There are only a handful of towns in NYSE&G’s, so it makes fighting back more “difficult,” Pierce said.)

Statements made at the sessions will be submitted to the PSC.

Participation in the rate case is required, but more important are changes “at the state level to make certain that the situation that led to this in the first place is fixed so we don’t keep ending up here over and over again,” she explained.

Folks apologized for repeating things that previous speakers had said but were assured that that wasn’t a bad thing.

“There’s tremendous value” in hearing the same stories over and over because there’s power in numbers, legislators said.

“Please don’t let this be a one and done,” urged Johnson, encouraging folks to also register their comments directly with the PSC.

According to Gashi, NYSE&G’s rate increases over the past five years, when compounded, came to 30 percent.

“If a politician raised your taxes by 30 percent over five years, they’d be voted out of office,” he said.

“Yell as loud as you can,” Gashi said in concluding remarks.

Town Councilman Anthony Cirieco, who was there to speak himself, welcomed the crowd of about 50 people.

“Maybe we can move the needle a little bit here,” he said, asking participants not to hold back.

And they sure didn’t.

Here’s a sampling of what they said:

ROMAINE GUNTHER: “We have no choice whatsoever. Why do they call it the Public Service Commission when they never work for us?”
RENEE LIEB: “A majority of people these days are living paycheck to paycheck. There’s only so many times you can keep tapping the well. I don’t know any company or business that asks for increases as often as the utilities do.”
ROBIN TRAINA: Testified that his power was shut off AFTER a storm -- reportedly so that the grid could be fixed -- more than once. When he complained, an NYSE&G customer rep told him “Too bad, where you gonna go? Even if you go to a secondary party we’re still gonna bill you. Go cry to your politician. So here we are crying to you.”
JAMES PANETTIERE SR.: Said that up until last February, he’d never seen a “recovery” charge on his electric bills. (Recovery charges are fees levied to cover costs from past severe weather events that caused significant infrastructure damage.) “This is what I call nickel and diming.” Having once worked in the financial field, he knows the importance of budgeting. “I think NYSE&G’s financial board should be working in the mail room.”
DOLORES SALADINO: “The bills are ridiculous. What could be possibly done to resolve this? Decreases are not going to happen. We can look forward to more increases. I’m at the point where I might get married again just to pay half the bill.”
STEPHANIE AZADIAN: Azadian, who had been one of a group of Somers residents who recently successfully battled to keep a battery farm from being built near their neighborhood, slammed the utility’s Systems Benefits Charge, a state-mandated charge that funds programs and initiatives such as energy efficiency, research and development, and assistance for low-income customers. “If the state wants to fund these initiatives they should do it transparently through the budget process and not sneak them into our utility bills.”
ANTHONY CIRIECO: Calling the unending cycle of increases “outrageous” and “burdensome,” Cirieco also focused on pass-through charges such as the one that supports renewable energy activities. While he’s not against the goal of transitioning away from fossil fuel usage, Cirieco thought the state should take a step back and perhaps “relax” mandates until green technology such as solar gets the chance to catch up. As far as the PSC’s review of Con Ed’s and NYSE&G’s rate hike requests goes? “Slow it down, approve one year, link it to inflation, then let’s sit at a table and figure it out,” he advised.
BARRY TUCK: “I believe the well is over tapped because NYSE&G is owned by a private company that has absolutely ZERO interest in what happens to people in this community,” he said, referring to U.S.-based Avangrid, a subsidiary of the Spanish multinational energy company, Iberdrola.
LATEASHA STAPLETON: Stapleton said her bills have skyrocketed. She has a disabled son who needs a portable suction machine to clear his airways. Fearful after receiving a couple of turnoff notices, she testified that she’d “do anything to pay that bill, but when it’s three times the amount from when I first started that’s a troubling effect for me.” “I need somebody to do something because this is too much,” she pleaded. Pierce advised her that as long as you get a doctor to certify that there’s a medically fragile person in your household, a utility cannot shut off your electricity for a certain period of time. However, if the condition isn’t life-threatening, you may need to recertify every 30 days.
JOHN COURTIEN: Frustrated over trying to figure out a bill that has “14 separate charges on it,” Courtien demanded that NYSE&G build them into their costs. “I don’t buy something at the store and there’s a charge for the guy who drove it to the store, a charge for the guy who brought it to the factory, and a charge for the rent on the factory. This is a product. I buy it. I want one price.”