Fighting for Lower Utility Costs

Making New York more affordable is one of my top priorities. Needlessly high utility costs are among our biggest challenges, and I’m fighting on a number of fronts to lower these costs.

Updates on the 2025 Con Edison Rate Cases

If you live in the Con Edison service area, the current gas and electric rate cases will determine how much you pay for utilities each month starting next January. Our utility bills are already too high, and I share the outrage many of you have expressed at Con Edison’s request to raise our rates even higher. Here’s what I’m doing about it.

Promoting & Supporting Public Participation
The Public Service Commission (PSC) needs to hear directly from residents about the impact of rate increases on their household finances. The more personal testimony they hear, the better. The collective advocacy of elected officials throughout Westchester led the PSC to host additional in-person public hearings this past July, including one here in Assembly District 95. The PSC received tens of thousands of comments about these rate cases, which is something we can be proud of, and definitely influenced Con Edison’s decision to significantly lower the rate increases they are asking for.

Webinar: “How to Participate in The Con Edison Rate Cases”

To answer questions and help residents prepare to testify in cases such as these, I co-hosted a webinar with the Public Utility Law Project, Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, and my colleagues in Assembly Districts 92 and 93, Assemblymembers MaryJane Shimsky and Chris Burdick. Watch it above or click here to see it on my YouTube channel.

Utility Feedback Survey Results
My Assembly colleagues and I also opened a survey inviting constituents to rate and comment on their experiences with their utility providers. While the results did not surprise us (people are frustrated by rate increases) we did gain some insight into how Con Edison compares to other utilities serving Westchester that informed our testimony in these cases. Thank you to everyone who participated; click here to read the results.

Joining the Rate Cases as an Intervenor

This spring, I became a formal participant in both of the 2025 Con Edison rate cases. By becoming a formal party, I was able to participate in settlement negotiations. At the end of these negotiations, Con Edison and several of the parties involved in the negotiations released a Joint Proposal that is currently being considered by the Public Service Commission (PSC). I am proud of the progress my colleagues and I made through our participation in the cases; the delivery rates proposed in the Joint Proposal are significantly lower than those Con Edison initially proposed. However, I do not think the Joint Proposal goes far enough to address affordability concerns, and I have submitted a letter of opposition to the PSC along with several of my colleagues. Click here to read more about my opposition to the current proposal, and how my legislative colleagues and I plan to continue the fight for lower utility costs.

Supporting Legislation to Lower Costs and Reform Utility Practices

I am a co-sponsor of multiple pieces of legislation that will help us lower costs and reform utility practices if passed. These include:

• Legislation to end the obligation to serve gas. Gas infrastructure is incredibly expensive to maintain, and most of the cost of the current Con Ed rate case is related to their obligation to continue serving gas. Eliminating this obligation is the single most important thing we can do to rein in costs. Replacing the obligation to serve gas with an obligation to serve energy more generally would enable utilities to replace old, expensive gas infrastructure with less expensive options. While the bill that would have gone the furthest toward lowering costs, the New York HEAT Act, did not pass the Assembly this session, I am continuing to fight for legislation to end the obligation to serve gas and enable utilities to pass the resulting cost savings on to ratepayers.
• Ending the 100-foot-rule. The Assembly and Senate did pass A.8888 to end the 100-foot-rule, which currently requires all ratepayers to subsidize the cost of new connections to the gas system. Ending this gas subsidy is a small but important step toward limiting the expansion of gas infrastructure. I was proud to co-sponsor this legislation and I am currently working with colleagues to push the Governor to sign this bill into law.
• Legislation to limit the costs utilities can pass on to ratepayers. A.4249 would prohibit public utilities from using ratepayer funds to pay for lobbying and political donations. A.5402A would constrain executive salaries and make utility companies responsible for most of the cost of participating in rate cases before the PSC. A.1028 would help constrain costs by requiring public utilities to adopt a common equity ratio and rate of return on equity, reducing pressure to raise rates in order to pay for higher shareholder returns.

My office is currently reviewing other pieces of legislation that could help bring costs down, as this is a top priority for me.

If you have any questions about the rate cases or anything you’d like to share about your experiences with Con Edison or other utility providers, please feel free to call my district office at (914) 941-1111 or send a message using my contact form.