I have mentioned most of the tax advantages and discounts when you sign up to have your gas delivered by an ESCO in NY, but one thing I did forgot to mention is that you may have the option (with some ESCO's) to "Lock in" your rate or price per therm.!! This means instead of signing a month to month variable rate contract, you can sign a one year contract and "Guarantee" the price you will be paying per/therm for your natural gas. It doesn't matter if you are a commercial or residential user, this option should be available to you. I just locked in my rate for a warehouse I rent out for storage. I feel better knowing what my bill will be every month, rather than worry about hurricanes and other things that will affect natural gas pricing adversely.
Hit by Fuel Costs, Con Ed Projects Bigger Rise in Bills
Con Edison is expecting to bill its residential customers in New York City and Westchester County 22 percent more for electricity this summer than last because of rising fuel costs, officials at the utility said on Friday.
A customer who uses 350 kilowatt-hours of power per month, a typical amount, would pay about $105, $19 more than a year ago and $8 more than an estimate at the end of May.
Business customers will most likely see their bills rise 25 percent, to an average of $2,893.08 a month.
The expected increase for June through September, detailed in an internal monthly memo and reported in The Daily News on Friday, is nearly twice the 13 percent increase that Con Edison had forecast. With natural gas prices rising and oil near record highs, the utility revised its estimates.
“It’s all due to rising fuel costs,” said Chris Olert, a spokesman for Con Edison. “We make no money on power generation. If we pay X cents per kilowatt-hour, our customers pay X cents per kilowatt-hour as well.”
Con Edison passes along its energy costs dollar-for-dollar to its 3.2 million customers, but makes money on the transmission and delivery of that power. The rates it can charge for transmission are set by state regulators in Albany; there was a 4.9 percent increase in April.
Though Con Edison routinely passes along its fuel costs, some lawmakers said that the utility’s executives should try harder to keep costs down.
“Con Ed is continuing to fleece taxpayers while giving exorbitant pay packages to its executives,” complained Eric N. Gioia, a city councilman who represents Sunnyside and other areas of Queens and is planning to run for public advocate next year. “New Yorkers deserve better.”
“In the past year, when the price of food, milk, rent and transit has gone up, New Yorkers can ill afford yet another price increase for their utility bills,” Mr. Gioia added.
According to a filing to securities regulators made by Con Edison in April, Kevin Burke, the utility’s chief executive, received $5.52 million in compensation last year, nearly $800,000 more than in 2006.
State Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris, Democrat of Queens, said that when Con Edison gets approval from state regulators to charge more, it should explain to customers that different parts of their bills are rising at different speeds.
The average of the different categories, he said, gives customers the false impression that their bills are not increasing as fast.
