Con Edison won approval from the Public Service Commission, the state agency that oversees utilities, to rise its rates 12% over three years. The NY Times reports, "Con Ed estimated that the increases would raise a typical household bill, now about $84 a month, to more than $94 a month in 2012." This first hike will take effect next month, and the average household's monthly bill will go up by $3.63 (the rates are a little higher in Westchester and a little lower for businesses). more ›

Last month, the Public Service Commission approved a 2010 Con Ed rate hike that would result in about a $6/month increase in a residential customer's bill. Now, the utility is asking for rate hikes in 2011 and 2012 because Con Ed doesn't think the first hike will do enough, given its rising costs. One plan calls for a hike of about $6.48/month for residential customers while another proposes a $8/month hike. This isn't sitting well with Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), who says, "Just last month Con Ed was handed over $700 million in rate hikes, and already it has its hand out again. Con Ed fiddles while homes explode and blackouts and electrocutions become routine. This unaccountable monopoly does not deserve one cent in additional rate hikes until it reforms its practices and changes the way it does business." more ›

Only in Albany can you be nominated to head the Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities, and start doing work for the government - while still working for a private sector energy company! The state inspector general released a report explaining how this actually happened with former PSC nominee Angela Sparks-Beddoe last year. more ›

Notwithstanding a massive steam explosion that horribly burned some New Yorkers and shut down a large section of midtown Manhattan for weeks, neighborhood blackouts that have left thousands in the dark and without air conditioning in the heat of summer, and occasional stray voltage leaks that have electrocuted people and pets, Mayor Bloomberg feels that Con Ed is doing a decent job and customers should be willing to pay extra each month to the utility. Aides insist that Bloomberg wasn't formally endorsing a $1.2 billion rate hike, which would boost customers' bills by an average of 17%. He was just pointing out that the company doesn't make that much money and that it needs additional funds to upgrade the city's energy infrastructure. more ›

The State Public Service Commission is fining Con Ed $18 million for failing to meet reliability standards during the nine-day Queens blackout last year. PSC Chairwoman Patricia Acampora said, "Hopefully, this order today will send a message to Con Ed that they must be diligent in their efforts to maintain a reliable network, or they will face financial consequences." As far as we're concerned, it seems like Con Ed got off easy. Especially when they... more ›

(con-ed, by huckfunn at flickr) more ›

After questions about whether Con Ed would be able to maintain objectivity when testing equipment from the area of July 18's Midtown steam pipe explosion, a State Supreme Court judge ruled that the utility could test a steam trap. Earlier, a state regulator suggested there could have been build-up in the trap, caused it to malfunction and causing the explosion. more ›

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• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an aircraft emergency at Laguardia Airport in Queens, a carjacking on 7th Ave. and 115th St. in Manhattan, and a pedestrian fatally struck on Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn.
• The director of the Public Theater's production of A Midsummers Night's Dream suffered four broken ribs and a collapsed lung after falling through a trap door at Central Park's Delacorte Theater during a rehearsal this week.
• Do not adjust the controls on your radio, 1010 WINS will be off the air between 12:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning to transition to HD broadcasting.
• Artists living in Carnegie Hall studio spaces are suing the Carnegie Hall Corporation to prevent their eviction. Carnegie Hall wants to renovate the space for educational programs.
• Spitzer aide Steven Mitnick resigned after admitting he threatened a Republican on the Public Service Commission. Mitnick repeatedly threatened the career of Cheryl Buley as she investigated ConEd after last summer's blackout.
• Streetsblog has a piece on citizen journalists filming the pernicious effects of traffic in Jackson Heights, Queens.
• Accused LES and East Village sex attacker Asuncion Dejesus-Garcia was released from custody after another crime fitting the same pattern as those he was accused of was committed while he was in jail.
• The New York Times looks at the decline of tar beach tanning in the city.

Last week, the city released 247-page report that offered a "mild rebuke" to Con Ed over last summer's blackout. Two outside lawyers from Couch and White wrote the report that finds Con Ed did some things wrong, but felt criticism over not shutting down the LIC Network (which many critics think would have shortened the blackout) was unjustified, because no one knows if that would have helped things. more ›

Queens Assemblyman Michael Gianaris accused Con Ed of placing its own PR needs above basic needs of customers. Gianaris says that the utility spent over a half million dollars to shore up its image after last summer's Queens blackout. He argues that money should have gone towards increasing reimbursements to businesses, whose reimbursements were capped at $7,000. more ›

A couple weeks ago, the state Public Service Commission released a report that slammed Con Ed over the Queens blackout that left 174,000 people without power for over a week. The PSC wrote that Con Ed "failed to fulfill its responsibilities under Public Service Law." Now, the State Assembly has issued its own report, which one member slipped to the NY Times, and that report takes the Public Service Commission to task as well as Con Ed!

The report quoted a 1932 speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the governor of New York, who said that the Public Service Commission “was created for the purpose of seeing that the public utilities do two things: first, give people adequate service; second, charge reasonable rates.” more ›

If you want to read an incredibly damning indictment of Con Edison ever put to 185-page PDF, we highly recommend reading the Public Service Commission study (here's the PDF) of what happened during last summer's Queens blackout. Our favorite summary of the major screw up that was Con Ed's response is Con Edison’s performance in preparing for, and responding to, the outage event was deficient, a gross disservice to its customers. Or is it The Company failed to fulfill its responsibilities under Public Service Law. And then there's

While many line employees of Con Edison worked hard to contain the crisis, the Company’s senior management failed, or refused to comprehend, the magnitude of the damage to its secondary system and the subsequent impact on consumers. The processing of the event illustrates deficiencies in the Company's ability to accurately develop and process information in an emergency and properly communicate that information internally and externally.

“My power was lost on Monday evening, July 17. I am 92 years old and live alone. I was very afraid because I live alone and I had no electricity or hot water. My family came to get me and took me to the state of Pennsylvania. If I did not have family, I would have been dead." Another consumer said, “...does Con Edison… have any idea what it is like to sleep in an oven for seven nights, to worry about your mother who is a senior citizen who decided to leave the apartment after three days of sweating like a pig, only to find her on the fourth floor crying and stating she had chest pains from trying to walk up six flights of stairs?"

The regulatory agency that oversees utilities in NY State, the Public Service Commission has been holding holding public hearings about the Queens blackout. The only thing is that the meetings have drawn very few attendees - those ones who did make it made sure to yell things like "This is a disgrace!" The NY Times reports that the hearings aren't providing any answers to angry and confused customers. Well, clearly the hearings are just the Public Service Commission's way of going through the motions as it compiles a report. And it's also depressing, because it seems that Mayor Bloomberg did lowball the city's energy's needs, according to a Crain's New York Business article. more ›

Yesterday was the third day of the August heat wave, but the sprinkling of rain in the early evening and cooler weather today and the weekend should hopefully bring relief to us all. And it looks like Con Ed managed to avoid a bigger blackout when feeder cables on the East Side failed and manholes exploded in the area as well; of course, Con Ed sending its own non-essential employees home certainly freaked everyone out! Bigger institutions, from hospitals to universities and performing venues - even the Bronx Zoo - switched to generators for power in order to conserve energy. However, some areas, such as in the Bronx, have been without power for days. Mayor Bloomberg is asking us to continue to conserve energy. more ›