Con Ed Wants to Raise Your Bill — Again
Prepare for more sticker shock: Con Ed wants to raise your energy bills again.
An average electric customer could see their bill increase by over 11%, while gas customers could see jumps of more than 13%, starting as soon as Jan. 1, 2026. Con Ed, with its 3.4 million electric and 1.1 million gas customers in New York City and Westchester, announced the proposed rate hikes earlier this month.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has been sensitive to any measures that could raise household costs, on Tuesday sent a letter asking the Department of Public Service, which regulates utility companies, to reject Con Ed’s rate increases and to audit the company’s management compensation.
Turning up HEAT
As the legislative session kicks off in Albany, some state lawmakers have introduced bills that would tackle the rising costs of energy.
Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn), chair of the Senate energy committee, introduced a package of eight bills meant to strengthen utility customer protections and support transparency around energy charges.
There’s also a huge push by environmental advocates around another bill, known as the HEAT Act, which would direct the PSC to come up with a plan to regulate the gas system in line with the state climate law and would cap utility bills at 6% of household income. The idea behind the HEAT Act is to change the status quo, in which ratepayers subsidize new gas hook-ups to customers and continue to pay for investments in an aging gas system.
Last session, the state Senate passed the bill, but the Assembly did not. Hochul, who included elements of the HEAT Act in her executive budget last year, did not include anything related to it this year.
Finance Committee Chair Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), the HEAT Act’s sponsor, in a statement pointed to the measure as necessary in the wake of Con Ed’s proposed rate hikes.
“If we want to make real progress on reining in rate increases for all New Yorkers, we must pass NY HEAT this session,” she said.
One analysis by the NY Renews coalition, consisting of environmental, faith and labor community groups, and the think tank Switchbox estimated the HEAT Act could save New York City utility customers $142 on average per month.