Republican state lawmakers call out rate increases, natural gas ban
From Senator George Borrello,
Yesterday in Buffalo I blasted Albany Democrats’ so-called “energy plan” which is the next leg of their disastrous crusade to take New York off the economic cliff with illogical, unaffordable energy policies.
The plan would ban proven energy sources like natural gas and propane…drive rates sky-high…and gamble our families’ safety on unreliable wind and solar fantasies, all propped up by billions in taxpayer subsidies.
New Yorkers didn’t ask for this and we won’t sit quietly while Albany sabotages our economy, our families, and our future.
Now is the time to fight back: Make your voice heard before it’s too late.
Sign up to speak at a hearing: https://energyplan.ny.gov/get-involved/hearings
Submit written comments by Oct. 6: https://energyplan.ny.gov/get-involved/comment
O’MARA, AREA LAWMAKERS CALL ON GOVERNOR TO OPPOSE NYSEG’S REQUEST FOR A RATE INCREASE
Elmira, N.Y., September 4—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R-C, Big Flats) has been joined by other area lawmakers across the region in a letter calling on New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Public Service Commission (PSC) Chair Rory Christian to oppose the latest rate increase request from New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG).
O’Mara was joined on the letter by regional State Senators George Borrello (R,C-Jamestown), Pamela Helming (R,C-Canandaigua), and Peter Oberacker (R,C-Oneonta), and Assemblymen Chris Friend (R,C-Big Flats), Jeff Gallahan (R,C-Geneva), Phil Palmesano (R,C-Corning), and Joe Sempolinski (R,C-Olean).
In their letter to Hochul, the area lawmakers wrote, “We write to express our strong opposition to the proposed rate increase submitted by NYSEG to the Public Service Commission on June 30, 2025. As a regulated monopoly, NYSEG benefits from a guaranteed customer base and is already operating at a profit. There is no justification for forcing ratepayers, who have no ability to choose another provider, to bear even higher costs without commensurate improvements in service.”
The local lawmakers stressed that their offices have been inundated with constituent complaints over NYSEG’s skyrocketing utility bills over the past few years. O’Mara said that his office has heard from over 500 constituents in the past several months alone.
In October 2023, the PSC approved multi-year rate increases for NYSEG customers, with a typical residential customer getting hit with a cumulative 31% increase. NYSEG is now requesting another increase of approximately 23.7 percent for electric service, with some service classes higher. If approved, it would cost the average household approximately $67 more per month or over $800 per year.
O’Mara, a member of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, said, “Skyrocketing utility costs have been the number one constituent complaint that our offices have been fielding throughout this new year. And rightly so. Some of these billing increases have been outrageous and inexplicable. We have been working with NYSEG, as well as with state officials at the state Public Service Commission and other state agencies, to try to get answers and assistance. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet received the answers or solutions we need. Consequently, we strongly believe there is no justification at all to approve yet another NYSEG rate increase and it should be rejected by Governor Hochul.”
Over the past several years since then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State Legislature’s all-Democrat majorities approved the “Community Leadership and Climate Protection Act” (CLCPA) in 2019, O’Mara and other legislators have warned that the energy mandates being rapidly imposed on all New Yorkers under that new law would have dire consequences across the board, including higher utility costs.
“Families across our districts are reaching their financial breaking point,” the legislators wrote in their most recent letter to the governor and the PSC on August 27th, “Seniors on fixed incomes, small businesses, and working families have contacted our offices to express deep concern and understandable outrage over rising bills. Approving this hike, layered on top of the recovery fee, smart meter costs, and policy-driven increases, would worsen affordability and accelerate the out-migration of New Yorkers seeking lower costs of living elsewhere.
“Further, we demand that the PSC undertake a thorough investigation of NYSEG billings, particularly following the smart meter installations. Our offices have been inundated with constituent complaints of inexplicable massive increases, in some cases double, triple and more in their monthly electric charges. There have been no rational explanations provided by NYSEG to these customers or our offices and the PSC just refers ratepayers back to NYSEG.”
O’Mara concluded, “We have repeatedly warned that New York State’s go-it-alone climate agenda is going too far and too fast. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Albany Democrat majority strategy for New York’s energy future is not affordable, feasible, or realistic under its current timelines. They are pushing forward with mandate after mandate without a straightforward and honest cost-benefit analysis of how much it will cost ratepayers, the consequences for the state and local economies, its impact on an already burdensome business climate, and whether it will have any effective impact at all on changing climate conditions. We are already seeing the consequences play out for individual ratepayers through skyrocketing bills and ongoing rate increase requests from NYSEG and other utility providers throughout New York State.”
