It’s summertime and New Yorkers are paying more attention to swimming, barbeques, and picnics than they are to New York State policies. Many will soon have a rude awakening. Starting next month, upstate electricity rates will take a big jump. After approval by the state’s utility regulator, the Public Service Commission (PSC), National Grid consumers will see electricity rates go up by 11%, with additional hikes in the following years.
National Grid was not alone, the PSC approved other utility increases for Central Hudson and other utilities have big rate hikes currently under consideration. Con Ed wants a 11% hike, New York State Electric and Gas Company (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric are seeking increases of at least 20%.
Not only are those increases hurting people’s wallets, for some consumers, rising utility rates is devastating. According to the PSC, as of June of this year over 1.2 million households in New York are 60 days behind on their utility bills, owing close to $2 billion. And over 1,400 households had their service terminated that month. No electricity during the hottest months of the year can be deadly.
Not surprisingly, public officials are criticizing those decisions. Even Governor Hochul – who appoints the members of the PSC – has complained.
Allies of the fossil fuel lobby have been quick to argue that it’s the state’s Climate Law that is a key driver in these hikes.
While a nice talking point, complaining about the state’s Climate Law simply doesn’t hold up.
It is true, however, that New York’s residential electricity rates are high relative to the nation’s. But that has been true for years. For example in 2018 – the year before the state Climate Law was signed – New York’s residential electricity rates were ranked the seventh-highest in the nation. In 2025, New York was ranked eighth highest. Still high to be sure, but the impact of the Climate Law’s passage didn’t make a meaningful difference.
There are reasons why utilities’ costs are going up – and thus the rates we all pay.
A few key reasons: Across the country, utility companies are overhauling the electric grid – often to prepare for the expected increases in demand. In many cases, these projects replace decades-old equipment and fortify infrastructure against extreme weather, which is becoming more frequent and severe.
So, what can be done about New York’s high utility bills?
As mentioned, the problem with high electric bills goes back a long way; the problem is structural. The central player in the rate-setting process is the PSC. When it comes to ratemaking and other utility matters, the PSC is charged with a dual mission: to both ensure the financial stability of utilities as well as set rates for the public that are “just and reasonable.”
As a result of the inherent tension created by the PSC having to both protect ratepayers and keep utilities profitable, consumers don’t have a full-time, well-resourced advocate for their interests at the crucial decision points that affect utility reliability and affordability. This conflicted process means that utility regulators typically only get to hear fully developed arguments from industry sources. The average residential consumer voice can get lost in the cacophony of industry lobbyists, engineers, and economists.
It wasn’t always that way. From 1970 to 2011, New York had a Consumer Protection Board (CPB), a state agency that fielded customer complaints about everything from gas bills to faulty fridges. It had more than 40 staff in the early 1990s and played a role in rate cases like the ratepayer advocacy offices that still exist in more than 40 other states. At its peak in the 1980s and early ‘90s, New York’s CPB estimated that it had saved customers $1 billion.
However, starting during the years of the Pataki Administration, the CPB had its funding slashed until Governor Andrew Cuomo finished it off and moved its responsibilities to a unit with the Department of State (the Utility Intervenor Unit). That office now has fewer than a dozen employees.
What New York has in place to defend the interests of ratepayers is far from the national norm.
Forty-five states are part of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, with offices that were set up by their respective jurisdictions to “represent the interests of utility consumers before state and federal regulators and in the courts.” According to reports, the New Jersey intervenor unit, the Division of Rate Counsel, is an independent agency with a staff of 26, half of whom are attorneys. California’s unit — the Public Advocates Office — has a staff of 179.
Yet in New York, there is nothing of the sort. That could change. The New York Legislature approved a bill to establish the “State Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate” to solely represent the interests of the state’s residential utility customers in energy ratemaking proceedings. This legislation would ensure that consumers have an advocate at the table with only their interests in mind when their interests are at stake.
That Office has long been needed in New York. In order to do something meaningful to protect consumers, Governor Hochul should sign that legislation.
Blair Horner is senior policy advisor with the New York Public Interest Research Group.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
