ITHACA, NY – It’s no secret that New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) customers are seeing massive bills impacting their wallets.
According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), the main culprit is that the price of natural gas has increased, which is the heating source for about two-thirds of New York’s households, and is the fuel that sustains about two-thirds of the Empire State’s electrical generating capacity.
Benchmark natural gas prices have maintained an upward trend since June 2020. The average annual natural gas price in 2021 was 90% higher than 2020 prices.
NYSEG cannot legally charge customers more for what it costs them to acquire natural gas. The American EIA is projecting that the 2022 natural gas price average will remain close to the 2021 average despite a still upward trend in prices since January. Experts are also wary of global price instability resulting from countries trying to reduce their reliance on Russian fossil fuels in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
The rising NYSEG bills are also tied to a rate increase approved for the utility in November 2020 by the Public Service Commission – the part of the Public Service Department that regulates and oversees New York’s electric and gas industries. .
The most recent rate increase was in December 2021, and rates are expected to increase again on May 1, 2022 to complete a 9.6% jump from previous NYSEG rates to May 2020, which will earn the company almost an extra $127 M from May 2020 to April 2023.
Some of the arguments NYSEG made to the PSC to raise its rates were so that it could increase its workforce, bolster funding for its tree-trimming programs — which many of their lines desperately need — as well as to a new technology: “smart meters”. ”
This state-of-the-art contraption, said to have more accurate and granular readings, appears to be the solution to the problems of NYSEG clients like Maureen “Moe” Colunio, who has seen eye-popping payouts come her way.
“One week my bill [estimate] was $597 for an Airbnb that was not rented,” said Colunio, a Schuyler County resident.
Colonio said The Voice of Ithaca that this unit used for AirBnB is currently gutted and has been vacant for months since renovations were halted due to her husband’s back injury and the need to rest. The unit is located on the second floor above its living quarters and has its own meter.
She received the bill, and four phone calls with NYSEG representatives later, Colunio said he was told her bill would go down to $430, but when the bill arrived in the mail, it was $250. due March 4. Colunio said she couldn’t make sense and thinks it must be lower.
Then NYSEG sent Colunion another invoice near the end of March for $343, due the 31st. And, despite automatic payment, she said she received late notices from NYSEG.
Colunio shared some of that story during a public webinar titled “Know Your Utility Rights” hosted by HeatSmart Tompkins and the Public Utility Law Project of New York (PULP) in March. The reason that Richard Berkley, the executive director of PULP, gave him for the bills is quite simple.
“I’m going to use a technical phrase: they screwed up,” Berkley said.
Berkley suggested she file a complaint with the New York State Department of Public Service (DPS), the state agency that oversees NYSEG and all other utility operators in New York, and has said PULP would continue to investigate her issues if she called their 800 number.
Colunio paid the bills while making calls throughout March and filing complaints with DPS before he could finally speak to a NYSEG representative who could resolve his issues. This happened shortly after Voice asked for comment on Colunio’s complaints.
While it’s rare that NYSEG customers are subject to these apparent billing errors, it highlights a specific shortcoming in the utility’s customer service that ratepayers have often expressed displeasure with: an apparent inability to get the right person on the phone.
When asked to explain the phenomenon of these erroneous bills, NYSEG replied The voice that it does not comment on specific customer complaints.
Everything you need to know about smart meters
NYSEG’s Ithaca division is the first area where the smart meter is deployed. In February, the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG) received a presentation on the new technology from NYSEG’s Director of Government and Community Relations, Gavin Mosely.
Mosley said the smart meters will use two-way wireless communication to securely itemize hourly usage information for NYSEG customers. Mosley added that the meters will end the practice of bill estimates, stop customer readings, improve outage responses and generate energy tracking reports that will show customers in “real time” what the trends are. of their use. NYSEG customers are said to be able to opt in to monthly digital energy consumption reports that can be emailed to inboxes and recommendations to reduce energy consumption.
When a person’s power is gone, Mosley said, “we’re going to be able to know in real time that it’s been depleted to get it back faster.”
The meters are supposed to reduce the margin of human error in NYSEG’s meter reading, but that’s one of the reasons PULP opposes NYSEG’s argument.
Berkley said smart meters will save “unionized workers money” for NYSEG, and that in the latest NYSEG rate case, PULP “did not believe at the time that [smart meters] provided no benefits to customers, but the benefits to the business are pretty obvious.
“Will this reduce the number of inaccurate readings? Potentially,” Berkley said. “But one of the things to know is that when the meters get inaccurate – when they get really old – normally what happens is that the meter runs slower. So it undercharges. There’s an obvious reason a utility would want to turn off a meter like that.
According to DPS, approximately 11% of the funds that NYSEG’s current rate hike will rake in between May 2020 and May 2023 are to be spent on smart meter deployment. Each meter is expected to cost residential customers around $280, and in total NYSEG’s investment in installing smart meters is expected to be around $361 million.
This cost will be paid for by customers on their NYSEG bills, but DPS said $19 million in benefits are expected to be passed on to customers with the transition to smart meters, which is a key reason why the regulator authorized the price increase. .
NYSEG customers have the option of opting out of smart meter installation, even though it will add an additional $13.46 per month to their utility bill.
One cost-cutting measure Berkley questioned was NYSEG’s ability to use smart meters to remotely shut off gas and electricity remotely. This allows the utility to avoid the cost of sending a truck to a house to do it manually, but Berkley noted that according to New York state law, someone has to come to your house to cut. gas or electricity.
Notwithstanding the law, Mosley told TCCOG in February that smart meters would give NYSEG the ability to remotely turn gas and electricity off, but only remotely turn electricity on.
“They would like to change the law, but that’s wrong,” Berkley said. “And they fired union workers to save money in this area.”
Berkley suggested that anyone wishing to file a complaint against his utility visit the PULP website.
For those struggling with their bill, NYSEG encourages customers struggling with their bills to explore available offers. assistance and payment programs.
For those looking to sympathize with someone following their utility bill hike, Colunio said she found some sympathy with one of the NYSEG reps she spoke with on the phone during the course. of last month.
“Every time I get a bill, I call NYSEG and apologize to the young woman who answers the phone because I might insult her and I might call her names, but that’s okay. do with her,” Colunio said with a laugh. . “And she says she gets an electricity bill and her electricity bill is also doubled. And she doesn’t understand it!
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