The public comment session will take place at PS 122.
July 22, 2019, Jackie Strawbridge
Astorians will get the opportunity tonight to comment on Con Edison’s plan to increase electricity and gas rates starting in 2020.
Council Member Costa Constantinides will host a public comment session regarding the rate hike at P.S. 122 (21-21 Ditmars Blvd.) at 7 p.m. this evening.
The rate hike in question would raise the average monthly residential electric bill $4.45 to $81.78. Monthly residential gas bills would increase $17.28 to $176.34. These changes would go into effect in January 2020.
The proposal is under review by the New York State Public Service Commission.
Tonight’s meeting comes on the heels of a massive outage in Queens and Brooklyn during this past weekend’s heat wave, leaving tens of thousands of residents without power.
As of Monday afternoon, there were about 2,000 Queens customers still without power, according to a Con Ed spokesperson.
“New York might be the City that Never Sleeps, yet Con Edison decided it was bedtime for 30,000 customers who lost power Sunday night – with little-to-no warning,” Constantinides said in a statement Monday. “Con Ed leadership categorically failed the people of this City throughout last week’s heatwave. New Yorkers deserve better than this, and it’s time we fully examine how we power the Big Apple moving forward.”
A Con Ed spokesperson said in response, “We’re focused on restoring the remaining customers that are out and once it’s done, we’ll be working with the City to hash out what went wrong and to try to improve to the future.”
