New York State’s top energy regulator is moving to implement consumer protections in the state budget, which could have an impact on your home power bill.
The New York State Public Service Commission regulates the companies that deliver electricity and natural gas to your home. Lately, energy prices have gone up sharply. The PSC approves those rate increases before the utilities can charge them to you.
Rory Christian, the chairman and CEO of the Public Service Commission, acknowledges there’s an affordability crisis right now.
"The new powers put forward by the governor in the recent budget have been in response to the growing affordability crisis that we're seeing across the country," Christian said in an interview with New York Now. "Everything from inflation, rising interest rates, supply chain disruptions that still linger a little bit from the pandemic, and other factors, and now, global war. And the risk that brings all of that is creating an environment where prices are higher and getting higher for everything that we use, from energy to things in the supermarket and beyond."
The new powers Christian mentions include imposing stricter review rules for rate hikes, establishing independent affordability monitors, and tying utility executive compensation directly to affordability metrics. The PSC has always had the power to punish utilities for poor performance. Earlier this month, the PSC said it had levied $50 million in fines on five out of 12 utilities, including National Grid, Rochester Gas and Electric and New York State Electric & Gas.
The recent announcement of $200 checks heading to many New York homeowners is part of that new package, what Gov. Kathy Hochul calls an energy rebate.
Christian says it’s easy for people to blame the PSC for ever-higher rates, but there’s much more to it.
"There's this common misconception that we set rates," he said. "We don't pick a number out of a hat. We don't throw darts at a board and just pick random numbers. These are based on months of discussion, negotiation, and analysis where we determine what is needed to keep the system working and what's the cheapest way to do so. And then we set rates based on the cost to do so because at the end of the day everything costs money."
A whole host of metrics goes into setting the rate you pay for power, but Christian said a key metric is 6%. If you are spending more than 6% of your income on energy, that’s a cause for concern and a reason why he intends to make the PSC’s new powers help to keep energy costs under control.