Published: October 21, 2009 08:04 am      

NYSEG, give us a break

NYSEG says it wants to raise our electric rates by 18.6 percent. Here’s what the state Public Service Commission ought to say in response: Fergeddaboudit! Local business owners and other residents have to ask themselves when was the last time they got an

18.6 percent raise in their salaries. With those of us in upstate New York already struggling with some of the highest electrical rates in the country, the last thing we need is another punch to our financial solar plexus.

New York State Electric & Gas Corp., a subsidiary of Energy East (itself a subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola), petitioned the state Public Service Commission on Sept. 17 to raise electric rates 18.6 percent and natural gas rates 17.4 percent.

We can only hope that those ridiculous numbers constitute just an absurd attempt to obtain a single-digit increase when all is said and done.

The Public Service Commission should have plenty to say before anything is done to raise our rates. The opportunity for this will be when it gets around to its not-yet scheduled evidentiary hearings to take testimony on whether the rate hike is warranted.

``While our electricity service rates have declined and our natural gas rates have remained essentially flat since 1996, the expenses necessary to provide safe and reliable service to our customers have climbed year after year,” said Michael Conroy, senior vice president and chief operating officer of NYSEG. Give us a break.

We really mean it. Give us a break from that kind of nonsense. In case Mr. Conroy hasn’t noticed, a ton of people around here can’t make ends meet at it is.

Even folks who make a decent salary are huddling under blankets and wearing layers of clothing inside their homes because they can’t afford to turn up the heat.

Small businesses are fighting to survive as the economy slowly emerges from a debilitating recession. And NYSEG wants to raise our utility bills by almost a fifth of the high price we’re paying now.

Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, noting that a bill in the state Legislature includes a tax increase on electricity, said he hopes the PSC will look closely at NYSEG’s request.

James Powers, chairman of the Otsego County Board of Representatives, said: ``It would be one thing if NYSEG got a rate hike and businesses could pass it on, but that won’t work here. We have farmers, workers, people on fixed incomes who can’t pay more.’’

We urge our readers to contact the PSC and make their feelings known about this obscene attempt by NYSEG to gouge its customers.