As temperatures drop in the city, New Yorkers are turning up the heat, and advocates say another Con Edison rate increase couldn\u2019t come at a worse time.<\/p>\n
They argue the cost of staying warm, or just keeping the lights on, is already out of reach for too many families.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
A City Comptroller report finds nearly one in three New Yorkers is energy insecure and struggling to meet basic utility needs<\/p>\n
Con Edison has already scaled back what would have been a double-digit hike. The proposed increase is 2.8% for electricity and 2% for gas
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The rate proposal now heads to the Public Service Commission, which has the final say<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are not optional things. These are necessary things. Energy is a human right,\u201d Michael-Luca Nat, an organizer with the Sunrise Movement, said.<\/p>\n
Energy costs even entered the conversation inside the Oval Office.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re sending fuel at a much lower price than it was a year ago, which is true, we have to get Con Edison to start lowering their rates,\u201d President Donald Trump said during a meeting with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf electeds can talk about this, then so can we,\u201d Durga Sreenivasan, founder of Equal Planet, said.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s data behind the concern. A City Comptroller report finds nearly one in three New Yorkers is energy insecure and struggling to meet basic utility needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not something that 30% of New Yorkers should have to choose between: keeping the lights on or a doctor\u2019s visit,\u201d Nat said.<\/p>\n
Con Edison has already scaled back what would have been a double-digit hike. The proposed increase is 2.8% for electricity and 2% for gas.<\/p>\n
But advocates say even the reduced version lands on top of years of steady increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where this money is going \u2014 to fill someone\u2019s pockets,\u201d Sreenivasan said.<\/p>\n
In a statement following the president\u2019s comments, Con Edison wrote in part, \u201cWe welcome the opportunity to partner with the mayor-elect on solutions that make New York affordable for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a city that\u2019s already unaffordable to live, any more costs to everyday New Yorkers is still too much,\u201d Nat said.<\/p>\n
The rate proposal now heads to the Public Service Commission, which has the final say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As temperatures drop in the city, New Yorkers are turning up the heat, and advocates say another Con…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[109,25,128,388,9,24,12,63,87,129,131,130,27,200],"class_list":["post-59243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-top-stories","tag-bronx","tag-louis-finley","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}