***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

June 26, 2025

(Albany, NY) - State Senator Shelley B. Mayer announces that with the conclusion of the 2025 Legislative Session, four Mayer-sponsored bills to confront the New York State utility crisis passed the Senate. Senator Shelley Mayer introduced three of these bills this session in direct response to the outpouring of frustration from constituents about utility costs –– specifically about Con Ed. 

S.7693 requires utilities to return every penny in excess profit, above what is approved by the Public Service Commission (PSC), to ratepayers. Utilities are allowed under federal case law to earn just and reasonable rates; but there is no reason why utilities should be allowed to earn more than is approved at the expense of rate payers. According to research by the Public Utility Law Project of New York (PULP), this bill could result in millions of dollars being returned to ratepayers. This bill passed the Senate on June 5 with bipartisan support. 

S.3734 caps how much utilities can recover from ratepayers for executive salaries and costs associated with their participation in rate cases. Under current practice, utilities are allowed to recover 100% of their operating expenses from ratepayers –– even excessive executive salaries and their legal fees from applying to the PSC to raise rates. This bill will set reasonable limits on what utilities can recover, protecting ratepayers from having to foot the bill for utilities’ largess. This bill passed the Senate on June 12 with bipartisan support. 

S.5593 aims to address a phenomenon known as “rate compression” where utilities are allowed to retroactively recover rate increases from consumers when rate cases run long. The bill increases the length of rate cases, giving all parties, including consumer advocates, additional time to negotiate. And it limits how much utilities can retroactively recover from ratepayers when cases run over. This bill passed the Senate on June 5 with bipartisan support. 

Senator Shelley Mayer also passed S.1896 – for the third time with bipartisan support –– to totally overhaul how the PSC determines the return on equity (ROE) –– or profit –– a utility is entitled to earn. This bill would rebalance the utility rate setting process, putting interests of ratepayers first. 

State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, “Every New Yorker deserves stable utility rates that are as low as possible, without the constant fear of steep increases. There is no reason why we, as ratepayers, should be bankrolling excessive executive salaries, or allowing utilities to keep excess profits. No family in Westchester should have to choose between paying their utility bills and buying groceries while the CEO of Con Edison earns more than 126 times the median household income in Westchester County. 

“While I am deeply disappointed that this legislation did not pass in the Assembly, I remain committed to addressing the utility affordability crisis. We will return to Albany in six months –– or sooner –– and I will continue to advocate for these bills until they are approved by both the Senate and Assembly and signed into law. In the interim, I’m leading the charge against Con Ed’s application for rate increases and urge all Con Ed ratepayers to express their strong opposition to any future rate increase by submitting comments to the PSC or by attending any of the four upcoming public hearings.” 

The Department of Public Service will be holding four public hearings in Westchester County regarding the Con Edison Rate Case.

The first two will be on Tuesday, July 8 at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. at Cortlandt Town Hall, Vincent F. Nyberg Meeting Room, at 1 Heady St., Cortlandt Manor, NY.

The second two will be held on Wednesday, July 9 at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the Westchester County Center, First Floor Meeting Room, 198 Central Ave., White Plains, NY.

Appointments to testify are not required. Upon arrival, those wishing to speak will complete a request card. Each public hearing will be open for at least 30 minutes or until everyone wishing to speak has been heard. For more information, click here.

To submit comments in opposition to Con Ed’s proposed rate hike: 

To submit comments online, go to www.dps.ny.gov, click on “File Search” (located under the heading “Commission Files”), enter “25-E-0072” or “25-G-0073” in the “Search by Case Number” box, and then click on “Post Comments” at the top of the page.

To submit via mail, mail to the Hon. Michelle L. Phillips, Secretary, Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York, 12223-1350. 

To submit over the phone, call the Commission’s Opinion Line at 1-800-335-2120. This number is set up to receive in-State calls 24-hours a day. These comments are not transcribed verbatim, but a summary is provided to the Commission. 

“I sincerely thank every New Yorker who has reached out to me or my colleagues to express their concerns about high utility bills,” Senator Mayer continued. “ Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and my Senate colleagues for prioritizing the true crisis of utility bills.”\

Watch Video Here.