Con Edison Charging Twice as Much for Natural Gas as National Grid

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres's Bronx district is among the poorest in the nation, so naturally he tends to look out for the little guy. But when Torres investigated natural gas bills, he found a shocking discrepancy that affected all income groups across the city: Con Edison customers paid twice as much as National Grid customers — and sometimes more.

The state Public Service Commission says it intends to review Torres's findings, which include “egregious disparities” over the last two years in the service delivery rates charged by Con Edison compared to National Grid, Crain's reports. Both utilities have similar supply costs — the price of buying energy from wholesale markets — but their fees for delivering the energy to customers can vary widely.

“The status quo of arbitrarily higher delivery rates cannot be allowed to stand,” Torres wrote in a letter to Public Service Commission chair and CEO Rory Christian.

The report found that Con Edison, which serves Manhattan, the Bronx and part of Queens, charges between 92 cents and $1.29 per a thermal unit of gas. National Grid, meanwhile, charges its customers in Queens and Brooklyn between 45 cents and 54 cents per a thermal unit. (The utility also serves Staten Island, but the review did not include that borough.)

Those rate differences can add up in a big way for property owners. For example, Con Edison charged one Bronx multi-unit property a total of roughly $7,300 for about 3,800 thermal units of gas between September and October in 2023; the delivery fee was more than $5,600, the report found. In Brooklyn, Torres' review found that National Grid charged a similar property using roughly the same amount of gas, some $2,800 for service between April and May 2023; and the delivery portion of the charge was just over $1,800. In this case, the Con Edison customer paid nearly triple what the National Grid customer paid. 

Con Edison spokesman Allan Drury did not dispute Torres's findings, but he noted that energy delivery rates can vary for several reasons. Those include the level of service provided to customers, the geography of an area and the timing of annual state-approved rate hikes. Drury also pointed to Con Edison’s investments in local gas infrastructure.

There isn’t a one-size-fits all formula for costs across utilities, said James Den, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Public Service, which includes the Public Service Commission. He pointed to a mix of factors such as differences in utility operations, the number of energy plants in use, property taxes and corporate structures that can factor into the cost differences.

National Grid customers across New York City, in fact, will soon face higher gas bills. As of Sept. 1, customers who use the utility’s gas to heat their properties will, on average, see an extra $30 charged to their monthly bills in Brooklyn, parts of Queens and Staten Island. State regulators approved the rate hike last week largely to pay for $5 billion in new investments National Grid intends to make into New York’s gas system.