New York Ratepayer Watch

04/04/2026

If your utility bill keeps rising, the question is not just:
“Why is energy expensive?”

It’s also:
Who asked for these increases?
Who approved them?
What assumptions were used?
What profit level was protected?
And how much pain was considered acceptable for customers?

That is what transparency is supposed to answer.

Send a message to learn more

04/04/2026

What most people see:
“Rate increase reduced.”

What most people don’t see:
The company asked for far more in the first place.

That matters.

If you ask for a huge increase, then settle for something smaller, the final headline sounds reasonable even when customers still get hit.

That is one of the things we are now documenting.

Send a message to learn more

04/04/2026

Here’s the part regular people are not supposed to pay attention to:

Utility companies can come in with a massive rate increase request, the state cuts it down, and everyone acts like customers got a win.

But if the final result still locks in years of higher bills, was it really a win?

That is the game we’re digging into:
How high was the original ask?
How much got cut?
What still got approved?
And what does that mean for actual people opening these bills?

Because “less bad” is not the same thing as affordable.

Send a message to learn more

04/04/2026

A lot of people hear “the state reduced Con Edison’s request” and assume the problem was solved.

Not quite.

According to the state’s own order, Con Edison originally asked for increases that would have raised a typical residential electric bill by 13.4% and a typical residential heating gas bill by 19.1%.

The final deal was lower — but it still approved years of added cost.

That matters because this is how utility rate increases can work:
start high, settle lower, and still leave customers paying more.

We’re going through the actual filings now so people can see how this process really works.

Send a message to learn more

04/03/2026

Update: DPS has responded to our FOIL request.

Their position is that records responsive to our request are already publicly available across a long list of utility rate cases in the Department’s filing system.

So that is what we are doing next:
reviewing the actual case files for
• residential bill impact analyses
• cost and revenue models
• projected multi-year bill effects
• return on equity support

In other words, they did not say the records do not exist.
They said the public has to dig for them.

We’re digging.

03/29/2026

Transparency update:

The New York State Department of Public Service has acknowledged our FOIL request and confirmed it identified records that may be responsive.

What did we ask for?

• affordability and residential rate impact analyses
• cost-of-service and revenue models used in rate cases
• projected bill impacts under approved multi-year plans
• return on equity documentation for major utilities

In plain English:
we asked for the math behind the rate hikes.

We are expecting a written response by April 3.

We will share what comes back.

02/28/2026

New York residential electricity prices have risen ~33% since 2020.

2020: 18.36¢/kWh
2024: 24.43¢/kWh

U.S. average in 2024: 16.48¢/kWh.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), annual residential retail electricity data.

This is not a rounding error. It’s structural.

We are reviewing rate cases, rider structures, and PSC approvals to understand how these increases were justified.

Full analysis coming...

02/28/2026

My energy costs this winter have been THIS high
(JP323 https://www.memedroid.com/memes/detail/4555722)

02/27/2026

We are now collecting redacted utility bills for analysis.

If you’re willing to participate, please email a copy of your most recent bill (the entire thing) to:

[email protected]

Before sending:
• Block out your name
• Block out your account number
• Block out your full address (city/county is fine)

We are analyzing bill structures — delivery charges, supply costs, regulatory fees ..... to identify patterns across New York.

The more data we receive, the clearer the picture becomes.