3/7/2024 0 Comments National grid login nycThe utility’s biggest proposed investment on the gas side is replacing “leak-prone” pipes, which it says will reduce methane emissions, at a cost of more than $400 million per year.īut experts have singled out this massive investment as misguided. New York City officials have countered that ConEd’s network has already shown itself insufficiently resilient in the face of climate impacts-especially in disadvantaged communities-and that the company should not be rewarded financially just for meeting its legal obligations, which include reliability.ĬonEd also argues that upgrades to fossil fuel infrastructure can reduce emissions. Throughout the proceedings, ConEd has pressed the case that its chief responsibility-and that of the PSC-is to ensure “safe and reliable service at just and reasonable rates.” The fossil fuel investments it plans to make, it says, will above all ensure that New Yorkers can count on their electricity and gas whenever they need it, even as increasingly extreme weather bears down. Hundreds of thousands more are forgoing other expenses to keep up with their bills: according to New York City officials, at least half a million households are energy burdened (meaning they spend more than 6 percent of their income on electricity and gas), and that number could rise to 625,000 if Con Ed’s rate hikes are approved. As of May, nearly 1.3 million New York households were at least two months behind on their gas and electricity bills, owing a collective $1.9 billion-the highest level of utility debt on record, according to filings compiled by the Public Utility Law Project ( PULP).ĬonEd accounts for 43 percent of that debt, with some 385,000 households owing an average of more than $2,000 each. The proposed rate hikes would add to a backlog of utility debt, which steadily mounted during the pandemic and jumped again when Russia’s war on Ukraine sent global energy prices through the roof. “Con Edison seeks to continue investing in fossil fuel infrastructure, short-sightedly hoping to push these costs onto customers who are held hostage by the Company’s monopoly power,” they wrote. The lawmakers are asking the state to reject the rate hikes outright, while pressing ConEd to invest more in the transition to renewables. This morning, nearly 50 New York City and state lawmakers, led by Senator Robert Jackson of Harlem and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani of Queens, echoed that concern in a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and the Public Service Commission ( PSC), which oversees utility rates. The proposed investments will improve service and make the grid more resilient in severe weather, spokesperson Allan Drury told New York Focus-while also supporting the state’s climate goals, since some of the funds would go toward clean energy projects.īut ConEd also plans to sink hundreds of millions into its existing fossil fuel systems-investments that New York City officials and environmental advocates say would run counter to state climate law, which requires the power sector to transition to 100 percent clean energy by 2040. The utility presents the spending as a win-win for customers. Those hikes-the steepest in at least fifteen years, if approved-would likely be followed by more in 20. That would mean a 10 percent jump in electric bills, and a 15 percent jump for gas, starting in January. If state regulators sign off on ConEd’s proposal, customers would be on the hook for a total $1.4 billion in spending next year, split between the utility’s electric operations ($1 billion) and gas ($400 million). The $65 million in proposed upgrades are just one in a long list of investments ConEd plans to make in its electric and gas systems by 2025, with regular utility customers footing the bill. ConEd, like National Grid, is instead seeking approval from state regulators to spend millions upgrading its LNG plant. Almost fifty years later, both are still operating, with no plans of shutting down any time soon.
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