Josh Riley opens investigation into 'soaring' NYSEG prices
(WIVT/WBGH) – Congressman Josh Riley says he's launched an investigation into what he calls soaring energy bills from NYSEG. Riley says many of his constituents have reported their electric and gas bills skyrocketing over the last couple of months.
The freshman Democrat says he sent a letter to New York State Electric and Gas demanding detailed billing data, an explanation of recent rate hikes and how much of customers money is going into profits for NYSEG's owner, Spanish-based Iberdrola.
'Just last quarter, they were running around Wall Street, bragging to their investors, bragging to their shareholders that they had a 17% increase in profits. They had a $6 billion profit last year. And they're getting that profit by squeezing the hell out of people across Upstate New York. It's not fair, it's greed. I think it's corruption because they use those profits to then give campaign contributions to politicians and hire lobbyists. So we're going to hold them accountable,' Riley said.
NYSEG says the higher costs are a combination of factors. It says a colder than normal winter drove up energy usage, the supply cost of electricity and natural gas has gone up, something NYSEG says it doesn't control, and the company is making significant investments in infrastructure.
'Upstate New York has one of the oldest grids in the nation. So, significant improvements are needed to keep the lights on, to keep that reliability, and allow for economic and job growth. We want to be clear that any money that we're getting from customers is going toward making those types of investments, to strengthening the grid, expanding capacity, and meeting the growing energy demands across much of our service areas,' NYSEG communications manger Alexis Arnold said.
Arnold says NYSEG customer service representatives can explain the billing process in person or over the phone and the utility has programs to assist customers who are struggling to pay their bills.
Riley has launched a survey to gather input from constituents in the 19th district about utility costs. You can find the link to the survey here.
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