Today, Oct. 16, Assemblyman Matt Slater (R,C-Yorktown) held a press conference addressing the recent decision by the Public Service Commission to greenlight an unsustainable increase in rates proposed by NYSEG and RG&E. The unanimous approval by the seven-member commission entails a staggering 30% surge in NYSEG's electricity delivery rates and a 17.8% escalation in its gas delivery rates, which will be reflected in utility customers’ bills over the next 18 months.

Back in 2022, Slater, who was serving as Yorktown’s supervisor, signed a letter to the state Public Service Commission highlighting how NYSEG's proposal would cause a painful and unacceptably high rate hike on customers and maintenance costs and should be viewed as an inherent part of NYSEG’s operational expenses, especially considering consumers already pay some of the highest energy costs in the country.

“For a significant period, we witnessed the warning sign New York’s energy policy was broken, yet there have been no substantial efforts for reform. We are grappling with an affordability crisis that continues to persist. These price increases will only fuel this crisis, making it unsustainable and hindering the growth of our families and small businesses as their energy costs skyrocket,” said Slater.

Assemblyman Anil Beephan, Jr. (R,C-East Fishkill) said, “All we see is increase after increase and it is not fair that it falls on the backs of our taxpayers. The Public Service Commision needs to do better. They need to listen to the residents of the Hudson Valley and stop driving them out of New York with these ridiculous policies.”

Around this time last year, more than 106,000 NYSEG customers and 65,000 RG&E customers were at least 60 days behind on their bills, with the two companies having sent notices threatening shutoffs to more than 100,000 customers. With this rate spike, we can only assume those numbers to drastically increase leaving families and businesses to suffer.