The New York State Public Service Commission has approved temporary rate increases for New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas and Electric customers that are significantly lower than what the utilities originally requested.
The temporary rates, approved Thursday, take effect June 1 and are intended to give regulators more time to review the utilities’ proposals and complete the ongoing rate cases. State officials said the move also protects customers from larger automatic increases while allowing the companies to continue investing in system safety and reliability.
Commission Chair Rory M. Christian said the temporary rates will provide additional time to fully review the complex proceedings and establish final rates in the coming months.
Under the temporary plan, annual revenue increases were set at 3.7 percent for NYSEG electric service, 0.5 percent for NYSEG gas service, 4 percent for RG&E electric service, and 1.5 percent for RG&E gas service.
For residential customers, the estimated total bill impacts are expected to average 0.2 percent for NYSEG electric customers, 1.7 percent for NYSEG gas customers, 2.9 percent for RG&E electric customers, and 1.2 percent for RG&E gas customers.
The utilities had originally proposed substantially larger increases. According to Department of Public Service estimates, NYSEG’s initial proposal would have increased a typical residential electric bill by about $33 per month, or nearly 24 percent, while gas bills would have increased by more than $33 per month, or 33.5 percent. RG&E’s proposals included estimated monthly increases of about $33 for electric customers and nearly $19 for gas customers.
State regulators said the proceedings have become increasingly complex, involving more than 20 parties, over 10,000 pages of hearing transcripts, nearly 1,200 exhibits, and approximately 26,700 written public comments.
Final decisions on permanent rates are expected later this year.
