(WENY) -- Many New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) customers have reported significant increases in their utility bills, with some saying the jump is making it difficult to manage their finances.
Cheryl Hall, who lives in a double-wide trailer with her family of five, says her latest NYSEG bill reached nearly $1,000, a steep rise from her typical monthly bill of under $300.
"I paid again two bills in May, the beginning of May, the end of May, last month, I got a bill. They went all the way back to March and adjusted it, and it was $1,300 they only credited me 800 and some dollars this month. I and I, I owed $541.so I paid it," says Hall.
Another NYSEG customer, Chrissy Grace, noted that her bill spiked after the installation of a Smart Meter.
"Ever since they came in and installed the Smart Meter, it's gone from my bill. It's gone from like $50 up to about $150 now. And I called them, you know, when I told them I don't want the Smart Meter anymore, and they told me that they're going to charge me $13.49 every month for the regular legacy meters," says Grace.
Smart Meters are being rolled out across Chemung, Steuben, and Schuyler counties over the next year. Some customers are concerned about the financial impact. Grace said she's struggling to figure out what will provide more stability with her utility costs.
Alan Maxon, another customer who is using budget billing, has also experienced difficulties with rising bills. Having lived in his home on and off since the 1990s, he says he's never seen such an increase.
"I'm on a budget, so I just, you know, yearly, it goes up in the usually in the summer for me, because I use the electric for the central air. And in wintertime, it usually goes down because I don't use the gas or the electric much. And this year, it's already up to, I think, the budget I owe them on, and it's close to probably $800 that I owe on the budget still, and that was after paying them an extra, you know, 100, I think it paid an extra $100 or $150 you know, just to get it down. And then the next month it was still, right now, I think it's $777," says Maxon.
NYSEG says several factors could be contributing to these increases, including a rate hike that took effect in May 2023, after being approved by New York State.
"To do business now in 2024 than it did in 2020 in 2020 we took a really minimal rate increase because of the pandemic, and in recognition of how people were hurting," says Shelby Cohen I mean, people, you know, people's finances. So we didn't take the raise we needed in 2020 so we came back in 2023 and, you know, it had to be a bigger raise, because we have an aging infrastructure, and we have to meet the state's clean energy goals with the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA)," says Shelby Cohen, Director of Corporate Communications, NYSEG, and RG&E.
Customers experiencing sharp increases in their utility bills are urged to review their usage and consider reaching out to NYSEG for payment plans or energy assistance programs. As Smart Meters continue to be rolled out and the company navigates infrastructure upgrades and clean energy goals, many are left grappling with how to manage these rising costs.
For now, customers like Hall, Grace, and Maxon are left hoping for more transparency and stability in their monthly bills. NYSEG offers an online video that explains understanding your bill, which can be found here.