Con Ed Rates - WTF?

Is your condo buying electric from Con Ed? Or is Con Ed simply delivering it? $0.2 kwh sounds high? The only explanation that makes sense to me is that you are somehow paying spot rates.

I bet c0lumbiac0unty will be on here shortly to blame Obama.

http://gothamist.com/2014/02/09/wondering_why_your_con_ed_bill_is_s.php

How am I the first to post about this then? F-me...unreal.

And riversider, I'm pretty sure I'm paying spot rates...

Few people in New York have electric heat, which is probably why you haven't read much about this.

I can empathize. My electric bill is about $500 for a +/- 900 square foot apartment that's kept at 58 degrees for 10 hours a day, 68 degrees for six hours a day, and 64 for eight hours. We've taken to a running a space heater in the room we're in in place of running the HVAC system and sleeping with an electric blanket so we can leave the heat at 64, meaning it won't typically run overnight.

I'm on the top floor and get some residual heat from below. The folks in the ground-floor units, who work from home, tell me their electric bills are $800-1,000 a month. Our building is c. 1970 with very poor insulation, drafty fireplaces, and a lot of single-pane glass that would be prohibitively expensive to replace.

This area of the country was never meant to have electric heat. :/

It's not just about electric HEAT.

My summertime electric bills were topping $400/month for my one-bedroom apartment.

Until the master of my lodge (yes, I'm a Freemason) took one of my bills and "fixed" things for me. Don't ask how he did it, but at least now my monthly summertime bills are a more sane (but still outrageous) $200 and change.

I knew that natural gas had spiked big, but just looked and electric has spiked as well. Law of Supply & Demand I guess, and supply is contrained by everyone complaining when Con Ed wants to build a plant to increase their ability to deliver energy to our homes..

nyc1007, perhaps you move? While it's certainly been cold out, I have not used the heat once all winter, and electric charges have stayed under $50 per month.

NYCMatt
about 2 hours ago
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It's not just about electric HEAT.
My summertime electric bills were topping $400/month for my one-bedroom apartment.

One bedroom apartment? Those aren't for adults. Real adults should have at least a 2 bedroom apartment. And none of that Ikea furniture either.

"(yes, I'm a Freemason)"

... so, Matthew, what gods do you believe in?

"And none of that Ikea furniture either."

My apartment is furnished in Stickley.

This will not get better if they close Indian Point.

Nor if they stop fracking. Natural gas prices are actually at a low though they are higher for the season because of heating deman. They have been running in the mid $3 range over the long term (higher and the miners start more wells, lower and they shut some down). Before the fracking revolution prices were above $8 and had spikes into double digits.

Seems true that very few deal with the electric heat issue in this city and honestly, for resale purposes, not something that many of us should be openly complaining about.

lad, your situation definitely makes me feel better knowing that I'm not going crazy here. Also called con ed and they confirmed that there was an unprecedented spike in costs last month, and much of con eds source for producing electricity comes from natural gas, so a direct correlation.

To NYC Matt's point about A/C, yes, I have a similar issue during the summer but we can manage it better that time of year. Bill is usually $350-$400, which I've accepted for a couple months. $800, not so much.

I have been having ridiculous issues with ConEd and their fees it's insane! I don't think they should have the kind of monopoly they are having in NYC. Disputes about their bills seem so hard to resolve. I just received a 498$ bill for an EMPTY not lived in apartment with the thermostats turned down to 50 degrees. How in the world can that generate this kind of a bill?!!

ConEd's monopoly is for delivery, not supply. If you think you can get power cheaper elsewhere, try http://www.poweryourway.com.

HR-Aldi, I wonder if the heat is coming on overnight when it is so cold outside? Bundling up & using less energy is the only alternative to complaining about the bills. If you have a water heater, you can also turn the temp down there.

ConEd's monopoly is for delivery, not supply. If you think you can get power cheaper elsewhere, try

lots of buildings in fact do this very thing.

drdrd, HR's bill is for an EMPTY apartment kept at 50 degrees. bundling up is not the issue here.

I know that, luv. I just mentioned that in general. Glad you're still around, AR. xox

Anybody have ESCO recommendations?

Nobody is the best all of the time. You need to work with your managing agent and bid it out.

I was just kind of stunned at a $500 bill for an empty apartment. Ours seems to fluctuate greatly, between about $200 and $400 this winter for a 1250 sf apartment.

Thanks drdrd, I kind of miss the old days on the Madoff's terraces. Those were good times.

>$500 bill for an empty apartment.

Amusing. It was not empty.

HR-Aldi's apartment purportedly was, and that was the one I was commenting about. Which one are you amused by?

purportedly, I like that word.
You believe everything you read on streeteasy? You think Aldi's story is credible?

After a hefty spike on my Jan. 31 Con Ed bill, I just got off the phone with one of Con Ed's representatives. Bottom line? What was 12.1 cents per kilowatt hour the previous month is now 22.3 cents per kilowatt hour, pretty close to an 80% spike. Insofar as further information on the raise, the representative's hands were tied. On further prodding, he tried to transfer me to a supervisor but after 5-10 minutes he came back and said that they were all in a meeting(!!) and advised me to try again later. For those interested in various reactions, do a "Con Edison pricing per kwh february 2014" Google search and wonder. Con Edison may wash their hands on the whole affair because they are merely getting the electricity from third parties and are passing those prices on to us, but someone is seriously taking us for a ride, Con Edison included. But then, as long as we pay up, they can charge us as much as they want. And why not? After all, this is New York.

I live in a 646SF new development. On the 8th Floor.
I am literally home half the month and spend the other half at my boyfriends.
I have a w/d and central air- but ran my laundry once? and had the big loads done in the common area laundry machines.

My bill this month came out to $300. Is this outrageous or is this what I am to expect going forward? My building uses a third-party vendor who assesses usage/consumption. I asked for a break-down and am figuring out how I can dispute this, as I'm convinced it's incorrect.

Any others going through similar situations? Is there a good way to investigate this? I am sure I'm getting billed for other people's usage.
I live in 241 5th Avenue, btw.

Thanks!

The offering plan has projections of energy usage. How does that compare with what you're paying?

I can't believe the Riversider-like complaining. Riversider's cable bill. Your Con-Ed bill.

Just wait till Albany changes New York City RE taxes in the compromise between the Gov and the Mayor, those of you who whine about your dishwasher usage and your cream cheese costs.

The bill says I used 946 KwH but I wasn't even home the full 30 days in the month. At most home 20 days, lower heat to 65 when not home. Don't cook. Hardly use DW or laundry- I don't know if this normal but is there a way to dispute this?

I had a problem like that. I turned off everything in the apartment at the circuit breaker and then checked out my meter. It was running like crazy. I immediately called ConEd. They found someone else tapped into my meter.

cykang, I suggest you turn your heat down to 55 or even 50 when you're not there. I think you'll find that it makes a big difference in energy usage.

> They found someone else tapped into my meter.

WTF??

notadmin: It's not a new scam , so no surprise.

Cykang, you're being cheated somehow.

For reference: 400 SF apartment here, two occupants, and we're typically around 200 kWh per month despite having a 400/800-watt space heater, a desktop computer (which is put to sleep rather than turned off), and a flat screen TV (which consumes little electricity but is on a lot). Up to 30 amperes of current at any one time. Gas heats the shower/bath and boils the tea.

Heating the room to 65 is probably where all that energy is coming from, but still, nine hundred kWh is just insane. I wouldn't be surprised if, like Jelj13, someone is tapping into your meter.

OK thanks. drdrd, I turn my heat off now when I'm not home.
I just can't figure out what the problem is but management (Douglas Elliman) only bills me and has been slow at responding. I got another $290 bill.

Should I get an electrician to check my meter? We use quadlogic as the third party submeter provider...and they keep saying it's properly wired for my usage only.

Any advice on checking if it is correcting my unit?
Thanks inadvance.

Also, aren't brand new developments more energy efficient overall (construction, appliances, etc)?

I do nothing out of the ordinary- turn heat off when not home, do have radiant flooring but it's on a timer and is on only at night, used w/d once a month...I'm literally WTF!

notadmin and jelj13- can you tell me how I can investigate this?
Thanks!

At least you don't "miss the old days on the Madoff's terraces. Those were good times."
(aboutready, in her comment to "drdr", see above on this discussion page.
As if living off the fat of the Madoff's land, is a good thing to boast about ", no?")

"luv, xox" !

>used w/d once a month

That's something to be proud of.

Maybe cykang "hates" his /her w/d, as much as aboutready hates hers.
She posted a comment about how much she hates her washer/dryer and curses at it, hoping it will break so that she can send her laundry out.

.

Actually I'm overjoyed! My washer broke a couple of months ago, and I've been sending the laundry out. No longer am I hostage to the spin cycle. And knowing us, it will take us years to get a new one, and by then the kids shall have moved on and the laundry will be far less.

Cause for being "overjoyed!": a broken washer. "No longer hostage to the spin cycle" (as if "the spin cycle" was keeping her from doing other, important things)
How can her "son', (with the litany of problems she's commented about dozens of times on streeteasy
discussions) ever "move on"?