Staff from the state Public Service Commission will be filing a motion today to dismiss a request for rate hikes by New York State Electric & Gas, officials said.
NYSEG, an Energy East Corp. subsidiary, filed a request on Jan. 27 that would call for an increase in electricity bills of about $8.80 per month, a 9.9 percent increase. It also seeks an increase in residential natural-gas bills of $12.20 per month or 8.8 percent, according to a company media release. A related company, Rochester Electric & Gas, is also seeking a hike.
The requests come about four months after Energy East was acquired by Spanish energy company Iberdrola, which agreed to delay any rate increases during a 13-month period unless safety and reliability were at risk without one.
Company spokesman Matt Maguire said that due to the global recession and credit crisis, the utilities are in a financial crisis.
NYSEG and its sister utility face "huge spending obligations, growing uncollectables and more expensive debt and capital costs than seen in many years," Maguire said. "Unless these problems are addressed now, in this rate case, safe, reliable service to customers could be jeopardized."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., released a letter Wednesday calling for the PSC to reject the request.
"This rate-hike application reeks of profit mongering by a company that promised not to do just this as a condition of the approval of its merger," he said.
PSC spokesman James Denn said Thursday the request will take two tracks. The motion to dismiss the request is expected to be presented to administrative law judges today, he said. Staff members are hoping the PSC will reach a decision on that request by late June, he said.
But the commission acknowledged the filings for NYSEG and RG&E and a related company during its regular meeting on Thursday and that action has been put on hold until June 28. This is a normal step in any such filing, Denn said.
NYSEG serves 872,000 electricity customers and 256,000 natural-gas customers across more than 40 percent of upstate New York.
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