As of September 2022, nearly 1.2 million New York households are still in debt to their utility company, with an average household debt of a whopping $1,125. New York's utilities are currently in negotiations with the Public Service Commission (PSC), the entity that regulates the utilities, to deal with this ever-present utility debt crisis.

The Department of Public Service, the utilities, including PSEG-LI, and advocates from across the state, are considering a number of proposals. However, there is significant concern that everyday New Yorkers will shoulder most of the cost in the form of an extra fee on our bills. We need to send the Commission and utilities the message loud and clear: utility shareholders must share some of the pain.

Financial data from the pandemic years are in, and they show that not a single major utility in New York decreased shareholder profits in 2020, when average people were facing unprecedented job and income losses. In fact, Niagara Mohawk (a subsidiary of National Grid) actually gave dividends to their stockholders in 2020 when they had declared none in 2019, and Con Ed, NYSEG, and O&R increased the amount of profits paid to shareholders during every year of the pandemic. It's time for the utilities to recognize that energy customers cannot and should not be the only ones to shoulder the burden from this debt.

Fill out the form to the right and click "Start Writing". Your comment will be sent directly to the Department of Public Service and filed in the "Energy Affordability Program docket" within 24-48 hours: https://documents.dps.ny.gov/public/MatterManagement/CaseMaster.aspx?MatterCaseNo=20-M-0266&CaseSearch=Search

We need your help to tell the Public Service Commission that New Yorkers cannot afford to take on even higher bills because the utilities refuse to give up any of their profit!