Your Utility Bill Keeps Going Up. Could The NY Heat Act Stop It?
“Our rent is too damn high in the first place and our utility bill shouldn’t be an additional burden either,” Hennessy Garcia told a crowd of protestors in front of utility company Con Edison’s Manhattan headquarters last Friday.
The 27-year-old CUNY student, who also works full time, said the Con Edison utility bill she shares with roommates went from an average of $80 to $90 dollars per month last winter to around $130 this season.
Garcia isn’t alone. One in four New York residents pay more than 6 percent of their annual income on electricity, natural gas, and delivered fossil fuels used for heating and cooling, according to a report by environmental coalition NY Renews and the think tank Switchbox.