Con Edison charges nearly 100% more for gas delivery to some Big Apple customers than rival National Grid, according to Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres, who said a new study by his office exposes the energy giant’s “hidden overcharges.”
Analyzing gas bills from multifamily homes this year and last, Torres’ office found higher prices in all the areas served by Con Edison — the Bronx, Manhattan and part of Queens.
In the Bronx, average delivery costs per thermal unit of gas were $1.29; in Manhattan it was $1.01 and in the part of Queens it serves it was 92 cents, according to the study.
National Grid charges an average delivery cost of 54 cents per thermal unit, and its Queens customers paid 45 cents, according to the study, which did not include Staten Island.
Torres is now demanding the state Public Service Commission, which regulates and oversees gas, electric and water industries in the New York, to investigate the “inexplicable disparities.”
“When a state-sanctioned monopoly abuses its power to overcharge the public, compounding the crippling cost of inflation, the burden falls on both the Governor and the Public Service Commission to act swiftly to protect the hard-earned dollars of New Yorkers from predatory price-gouging,” Torres told The Post.
Con Ed customers were galled by the findings.
“I am very unhappy. I didn’t know how bad it was,” said Wardean D. Squire-Askew, a retired construction manager living in the Tremont. “Every time you turn around ConEd increases the [fees].”
Marble Hill resident Angie Rodriguez called the situation “very unfair” and planned to let Con Ed know about it.
“I am in a one-income household and paying double. Yeah I am going to call and complain,” she vowed.
Bronx landlord Ardon Wiener, who reviewed the data and helped with the analysis, said the real issue was inefficiency at Con Ed.
“Con Ed is run significantly less efficiently than National Grid and the consumer picks up those inefficiency costs and therefore the consumer pays a significant premium for an equivalent service, providing gas for heating and cooking,” said Wiener, who donated $6,100 to Torres’ campaign in 2023, records show.
Con Ed did not dispute the cost difference, but said it was providing a superior product and making investments in safety and “clean energy.”
“We replace 80 miles of cast-iron and steel main annually, conduct monthly leak patrols and are installing a first-of-its kind gas detector in customers’ homes, an enormous step forward for safety,” said spokesman Allan Drury.
