Fight Rising Utility Costs for Families and Taxpayers
Utility costs are one of the fastest-growing pressures on household budgets and county spending alike. Erie County spends $38.8 million a year on energy through its Utilities Aggregation Fund. Residents across District 11 are paying more every month for electricity and gas — and it’s about to get worse.
NYSEG has filed for a 35% increase in electric delivery rates and nearly 40% for gas, effective May 2026. For a typical household, that’s an extra $33 a month on electricity alone. National Grid already locked in three years of increases totaling 25%. These companies are posting rising profits year over year while families in Eden, Boston, and North Collins are choosing between heating their homes and paying their property taxes.
The county has taken a good first step — its aggregation program saves roughly $2.3 million a year on electric and gas, and the ECLIPSE community solar program offers 10% savings for income-qualified residents. But savings programs alone don’t fix a broken rate structure.
At the county level, I will:
- Push for a multi-county coalition with neighboring counties to intervene jointly in Public Service Commission rate cases — one county filing comments is easy to ignore, a regional bloc representing hundreds of thousands of ratepayers is not
- Demand rate symmetry — when wholesale energy costs drop, retail rates should follow at the same speed they rise, not lag by months or years while utilities pocket the difference
- Advocate for automatic refund mechanisms so that when utilities overcharge relative to actual costs, ratepayers see money back without having to fight for it
- Expand the county’s aggregation and community solar programs to every eligible public facility, and push to open ECLIPSE enrollment beyond the current 80,000 eligible households
- Support the county’s role in Community Choice Aggregation efforts so towns and villages across the Southtowns can pool purchasing power and negotiate better supply rates
- Require transparency on utility profits versus rate justifications — if a company is posting record earnings while asking for a 35% increase, the public deserves to see those numbers side by side
Local impact: Families across Eden, Boston, North Collins, and Collins already face some of the highest per-household energy costs in the district. A 35% rate increase would hit rural homeowners with older housing stock and electric heat hardest — the same families who can least afford it. Farms in Eden and Brant face rising operational costs that get passed through to local food prices.
Utility companies are entitled to a fair return. They are not entitled to raise rates every year while posting record profits and telling families to cut back. The county should be fighting for ratepayers, not standing on the sidelines.
Standalone Policy Brief: Holding Utilities Accountable
The Problem
Energy costs are rising faster than wages across Western New York, and the companies providing electricity and gas are asking for more while delivering record profits to shareholders.
What’s happening right now:
- NYSEG has filed for a 35% increase in electric delivery rates and nearly 40% for gas, to take effect May 2026. For a typical residential customer, that’s an extra $33/month on electricity and $34/month on gas
- National Grid already secured a three-year rate plan increasing electric delivery revenues by $167M (year 1), $297M (year 2), and $243M (year 3) — a cumulative 25%+ increase
- National Grid’s operating income rose from $231M to $295M in a single year. Net income: $198M for just nine months of 2025
- Meanwhile, 80,000+ low-to-moderate income households in Erie County are struggling to keep the lights on
What it means for Erie County:
- The county itself spends $38.8 million/year on energy through its Utilities Aggregation Fund — every rate increase hits the county budget directly and gets passed to taxpayers
- Homeowners in rural Southtowns communities with older housing stock, electric heat, and longer winters are hit hardest
- Farmers face rising operational costs that squeeze already thin margins
- Fixed-income seniors and disabled residents face impossible choices between heating and medication
What Erie County Is Doing Now
Credit where it’s due — the county has taken real steps:
- Utility Aggregation Fund: Saves approximately $1.5M on electric and $800K on gas annually through bulk purchasing
- ECLIPSE Program: Community solar for income-qualified residents, offering ~10% savings on electric bills, administered through Ampion Renewable Energy
- Community Solar expansion: The county is expanding participation in community solar for county-owned facilities
These programs are good. They’re not enough.
What We Should Be Doing
1. Build a Multi-County Rate Case Coalition
When utilities file rate cases with the NY Public Service Commission, counties can intervene as parties. Most don’t — and a single county filing comments carries little weight. Erie County should lead a coalition with Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Wyoming counties to file joint interventions. Combined, these counties represent hundreds of thousands of ratepayers. That’s leverage.
New York’s home rule provisions prevent counties from directly forming Community Choice Aggregation programs — but counties can coordinate, fund joint legal representation, and support their municipalities in forming multi-town CCAs. Senate Bill S2169 already authorizes municipalities to participate in CCA through inter-municipal agreements. The county should be actively facilitating this.
2. Demand Rate Symmetry and Automatic Refunds
When wholesale energy costs spike, utilities pass increases to customers immediately. When costs drop, retail rates lag — sometimes by months or years. The difference is pure profit.
The county coalition should push the PSC for:
- Automatic rate adjustment mechanisms that flow decreases to customers as quickly as increases
- Mandatory refund provisions when utilities over-collect relative to actual costs
- Profit-sharing triggers — when utility earnings exceed their approved rate of return, the excess should go back to ratepayers, not shareholders
3. Expand Aggregation and Community Solar Aggressively
- Extend aggregation savings to every eligible county facility — not just the ones currently enrolled
- Push to expand ECLIPSE eligibility beyond the current qualifying programs to reach moderate-income households who are above the threshold but still struggling
- Actively support towns and villages in District 11 in forming or joining Community Choice Aggregation programs to negotiate better supply rates
4. Transparency on Utility Profits vs. Rate Requests
Every rate case filing should be accompanied by a county-published fact sheet showing:
- The utility’s current profits and earnings trends
- The requested increase and its impact on a typical household
- How the increase compares to wage growth in the region
- What the utility is actually spending on infrastructure vs. shareholder returns
Residents deserve to see these numbers in plain language — not buried in PSC filings that run thousands of pages.
5. Advocate in Albany
The county should actively support state legislation that:
- Strengthens municipal authority to form and expand CCA programs
- Requires utilities to justify rate increases against their actual profit margins
- Creates automatic consumer protection mechanisms in rate structures
- Funds weatherization and energy efficiency programs at the county level to reduce demand
The Principle
Nobody is saying utilities shouldn’t earn a fair return. Infrastructure costs money. Grid upgrades are real.
But when a company posts nearly $200 million in net income in nine months and then asks families to pay 35% more, something is wrong with the system. And when county government is spending $38.8 million a year on energy that keeps getting more expensive, every taxpayer is affected — whether they realize it or not.
County government should be fighting for ratepayers at the PSC, building coalitions with neighboring counties, and using every tool available to bring costs down. Right now, most of that fight isn’t happening. It should be.