ALBANY - New York regulators are considering a rate hike requested by two upstate utilities four months after their parent company, Energy East, agreed not to seek a rate increase for a year except in a financial crisis.
The state Public Service Commission will hold a procedural conference Wednesday on the requests from New York State Gas & Electric and Rochester Gas & Electric. That's the first step in a review process that usually takes about 11 months.
“The staff is conducting a full and thorough review,” Public Service spokeswoman Anne Dalton said.
For residential customers, the increases would add about $17 to the average monthly RG&E bill and $21 to the average NYSEG bill.
When its $4.6 billion acquisition by the Spanish energy company Iberdrola was approved in September, Energy East, based in Portland, Maine, agreed not to request a rate hike unless safety and reliability were at risk without one.
Matt Maguire, a spokesman for NYSEG and RG&E, said the merger order specifically allows the utilities to file for a rate increase before the one-year “target period” ends if they can show their financial performance otherwise would fall to levels that jeopardized their ability to provide safe and reliable service.
The PSC also required Iberdrola to put aside $275 million to buffer future rate increases; sell the fossil-fuel power plants Energy East owns in New York to conform with a state policy that power companies shouldn't own both transmission lines and generating plants; and commit to spend $200 million on wind energy development in New York.
In their rate request filed at the end of January, RG&E and NYSEG forecast a significant shortfall in cash needed for required infrastructure investment.
They blamed that shortfall on a long list of factors, including the national recession and credit crunch as well as an increase in uncollectible bills, reduced sales, high property taxes, and rising costs of pensions and health care.
The utilities asked the PSC to approve the increased rates by July 1.
Sen. Charles Schumer issued a statement in response to the rate hike request, saying the PSC should reject it quickly.
“The credit crisis has put everyone, especially ratepayers, under financial strain and now is not the time to stick New Yorkers with spiking utility bills,” Schumer said.
NYSEG and RG&E said their electricity delivery rates haven't increased since 1996 and natural gas delivery rates have been essentially flat since 1994.
NYSEG serves 872,000 customers across more than 40 percent of upstate New York and RG&E serves 360,000 in a nine-county region surrounding Rochester.
“The staff is conducting a full and thorough review,” Public Service spokeswoman Anne Dalton said.
For residential customers, the increases would add about $17 to the average monthly RG&E bill and $21 to the average NYSEG bill.
When its $4.6 billion acquisition by the Spanish energy company Iberdrola was approved in September, Energy East, based in Portland, Maine, agreed not to request a rate hike unless safety and reliability were at risk without one.
Matt Maguire, a spokesman for NYSEG and RG&E, said the merger order specifically allows the utilities to file for a rate increase before the one-year “target period” ends if they can show their financial performance otherwise would fall to levels that jeopardized their ability to provide safe and reliable service.
The PSC also required Iberdrola to put aside $275 million to buffer future rate increases; sell the fossil-fuel power plants Energy East owns in New York to conform with a state policy that power companies shouldn't own both transmission lines and generating plants; and commit to spend $200 million on wind energy development in New York.
In their rate request filed at the end of January, RG&E and NYSEG forecast a significant shortfall in cash needed for required infrastructure investment.
They blamed that shortfall on a long list of factors, including the national recession and credit crunch as well as an increase in uncollectible bills, reduced sales, high property taxes, and rising costs of pensions and health care.
The utilities asked the PSC to approve the increased rates by July 1.
Sen. Charles Schumer issued a statement in response to the rate hike request, saying the PSC should reject it quickly.
“The credit crisis has put everyone, especially ratepayers, under financial strain and now is not the time to stick New Yorkers with spiking utility bills,” Schumer said.
NYSEG and RG&E said their electricity delivery rates haven't increased since 1996 and natural gas delivery rates have been essentially flat since 1994.
NYSEG serves 872,000 customers across more than 40 percent of upstate New York and RG&E serves 360,000 in a nine-county region surrounding Rochester.
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auburn~sucks wrote on Sep 8, 2009 6:29 AM:
AJ wrote on May 25, 2009 1:14 PM:
Whatever happened to Lattimore's idea of creating a municipal power agency?
SMUD and other municipal utilities have the lowest rates in the country for electricity because they are not beholden to WALL ST, SHAREHOLDERS, and GREEDY CEO'S, and they typically get better service as well. "
091951 wrote on Apr 7, 2009 7:55 PM:
sick of it wrote on Mar 4, 2009 7:21 PM:
spatrx wrote on Feb 28, 2009 8:37 AM:
movedsouth wrote on Feb 25, 2009 12:20 PM:
" I dare any of you folks to drive by Wegmans-Aub every single day and count the NYSEG trucks, killin dat time. free meals, $90K a year and a GED. Wow. Paid everything & better benefits & better retirement than any of us common folk. Cheat the Gov & tax payers (me & you) to give HUGE somes of money to reimburse storm damage. That is FREE upgrades to infrastructure. STOP the insanity you GREEDY lame RICH fools. " Do you have ANY idea of what you are talking about? Could it be coffee breaks and lunch, which MOST people are entitled to? I thought those employees were common folk. What kind are they? "Sen. Charles Schumer issued a statement in response to the rate hike request, saying the PSC should reject it quickly.
“The credit crisis has put everyone, especially ratepayers, under financial strain and now is not the time to stick New Yorkers with spiking utility bills,” Schumer said" And this guy said the American people don't care about the pork in the stimulus bill. Democrat. Maybe you can tell these people personally during a storm and your power is out, or in the middle of winter with no gas. This is like telling a cop he spends too much time in a coffee shop. "
bizzaro-world wrote on Feb 14, 2009 7:47 PM:
brew1234 wrote on Feb 10, 2009 3:58 PM:
excnyer wrote on Feb 10, 2009 1:18 PM:
mb wrote on Feb 10, 2009 11:31 AM:
a marine sgt 1976-1986 wrote on Feb 10, 2009 9:18 AM:
the bone wrote on Feb 10, 2009 5:32 AM: