Get ready for a shock from utility Con Edison — residential customers will pay 22 percent more for electricity this year than last summer – one of the biggest year-to-year increases on record, the utility giant predicts.
The surging price of natural gas and oil, which has doubled in the past year, is behind most of the huge hike, the Daily News reports.
Business customers will be hit with a 25% increase, according to a Con Ed forecast obtained by the Daily News.
As recently as June 5, Con Ed projected the average summer month’s bill would increase 13% over last year, but in the past four weeks alone, crude oil prices have soared by more than $20 a barrel.
(WNBC.com)
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4 Responses
I am not shocked by the rate increase.
I’m “shocked” – 22% !!!!!!
Posted: 3:44 am
July 11, 2008
Electric bills will soar 22 percent this summer because of rising fuel costs, Con Ed officials predict.
Authorities at the utility warn the hike will hit businesses even harder – with a 25 percent increase expected during the dog days of July and August.
Con Ed had forecast a 13 percent hike a month ago. As The Post has reported, utility experts were speculating the hikes could go as high as 30 percent. “It’s not a surprise,” said the utility’s spokesman Michael Clendenin. “Rising fuel costs are driving up the price of electricity generation.”
Officials said the electric rates customers face fluctuate every month based upon the cost of generating electricity, which is closely tied with the cost of fuels, including natural gas and oil.
A portion of the predicted hike includes a 5.7 percent increase in the cost of delivering electricity.
Clendenin said the numBers do not necessarily spell doom for customers – cooler weather and a drop in the price of fuel will probably bring relief.
In the meantime, “We urge people to conserve
WHEN people conserve,they use less.Then Con Ed cries that revenues ar down from less purchase of electricity.So they ask for another increase to make up for lost revenue. In the meantime,all other expenses go up and customers have to do w/o a/c and then get sick from the heat.It’s a bad situation just like all other tzorros we’re getting. Let’s be mispalel for a better economy and better פרנסה
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It’s just a way to hike. Can anyone ask Con Ed how much percent of the electricity coming to NY is actually made from oil and gas.