Con Ed Charged NYC Customers Over Twice The National Average Last Year

(Flickr User Huck Funn)

It's not just your imagination; like everything else in this town, freaking electricity costs more than pretty much anywhere else in America. The US Energy Information Administration recently released a report comparing electricity costs across the country, and according to their analysis, New Yorkers on average paid 9.6 percent more for electricity last year, while national electricity rates were mostly flat. Con Ed in particular charges customers, on average, higher rates than anywhere else in the country: 25.85 cents per kilowatt hour, which is more than twice the national average of 11.54 cents. But at least you're paying more to watch Seinfeld reruns in an apartment in THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD!

Con Ed's residential rates are consistently higher than anywhere else, except for utility companies in Alaska, Hawaii, a few islands in New England and a ski resort in California, where the electricity is conducted through tubes filled with champagne. But hey, everything costs more in NYC, and you get what you pay for—you can't expect to get artisanal locally-sourced power delivered lovingly by hand for nothing.

We asked Con Ed why their juice costs so much more than other companies and a spokesman pointed to New York City's taxes and labor costs, which are considerably higher than elsewhere. "Our reliability is top-notch," says spokesman Chris Olert. "We are in one of the financial, media, and fashion capitals of the world and our reliability is second to none. It takes a considerable amount of money to maintain that high quality."

Another interesting factoid about electricity costs in NYC comes from an EIA report this summer which found that NYC "imported approximately two-thirds of its power from outside the city limits in 2010. While the city has generating capacity equal to 80% of its annual peak load, many of these units are operated infrequently because it is usually less expensive to buy power produced outside the city. Transmission lines leading into the city are often congested when the amount of cheaper imported power reaches the limit of the transmission lines."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on November 28, 2011 2:07 PM

Comments [rss]

ed_Ex2

Phone, Electric/Gas, and Cable are monopolies.

Unkle_Bob

Someone has to be at the top. That's where "averages" come from.

And in the 8+ years I've lived here, there has been exactly one time the power has gone out, momentarily. That's pretty damn impressive.

taracorinne

there are power plants in the city that need to be upgraded to run on clean power but they are still working on the financing to upgrade the plant. one such plant is in LIC.

thesporkgirl

jay-z failed to mentions that the big lights that were to inspire me would also break the bank.

Dave Ragone

The #1 reason it's more expensive for power in NYC is because of the massive power usage in NYC and the nearby available resources and power lines. There are very few power lines running into the city, and all the cheap power from out west (west NY coal, PA/Indiana coal, midwest wind) have to go a long distance over very few power lines - this causes congestion, which increases the cost. The power plants in NYC are very old and very expensive to run. If you want cheaper power, build a nuclear plant in Queens, otherwise there's nothing that can be done.

If it makes anyone feel any better, I'm willing to bet it's worse in Long Island

sauerkrautcity

it doesn't matter anyway because when indian point shuts down we are fucked beyond belief

Guest

It's sad that Con-Ed gives good, specific reasons for this (higher taxes and labor) and people would still rather blame them than the legislators that made the higher taxes and labor.

Detex

This may be true but the fact that in other regions we can choose who supplies the power seems to make this a weak argument. If we had the ability to "shop" around" for our power I am sure you would see cheaper rates. (plus the option to "go green" if you wanted...)

oneoneone

One item not made very clear in the article is that NYC is a "deregulated" market for electricity. This means one company is responsible for generating the electricity (they burn stuff to get electrons to move) and another is responsible for delivering the electricity (installing copper wires to move those electrons).

Several years ago ConEd was split into ConEd (delivery) and ConEd Solutions (generation). ConEd (delivery) is still a regulated utility and its rates are overseen by a Rate Board (since it doesn't make sense to have two companies competing to run wires to each house). Therefore, the rates you are paying ConEd are approved by the government.

Your bill delineates what goes to delivery and what goes to generation. You can change the company that generates your power on by contacting ConEd (or going on their website).

Sterne Evans

I think you're the only person here who gets it. You should write an addendum to this article.

Guest

You can choose here too (http://www3.dps.state.ny.us/W/..., but I don't think it's very transparent. I've had at least two different sales people from different companies come into my building within the past month trying to get us to switch. I didn't listen much past the first few sentences because they said we'd still be getting our electricity from ConEd, just paying someone else (so I figured it would cost more).

Detex

Has anyone looked into using another electric provider? I started to last spring but I kinda spaced on it in the end. I always wonder if they are legit or not... Thoughts?

ed_Ex2

I did this a few years back and the rates were even higher, of course the rates went up after the 4-6 month grace period of having better rates than ConEd—it's not a scam, but it kind of is.

AuntySemantic

They are legit, Con Ed gives you a list of them on their website, but the total bill is really not much lower than using Con Ed.

maritov

Some of them give discounts for the first few months, but then the rates go up a lot. It does not end up being worth it.

chuzzlewit

ooooh - someone please elaborate on this - i would like to attack the wack where con ed is concerned.

matteus

Google shows that in 1997, the Con Ed monopoly was supposed to be broken up. At that time, rates were twice as much, not much different right now... I am no expert in the details, but "We charge twice as much cuz we're #1" does not hold much water for me. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/09...

AuntySemantic

I live in a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan with two air conditioners and my summer electric bills are twice what my sister pays for her entire house-----in south f**king Florida.

robingee

Yeah; an apartment electric bill here is twice the cost as the same size apt. in NJ.

Charles K

Pretty much same story here...I pay as much for my one bedroom co-op in Queens as my friend pays for his very nice house in Georgia (outside Atlanta).