NYSEG Cooperating with State in Billing Error Investigation

By Matt Dougherty

Your complaints about NYSEG haven’t gone unnoticed.

An investigation into billing errors at NYSEG has been initiated by the New York Department of Public Service after electric and gas customers from more than 40 counties across the Empire State say they have been impacted by billing errors.

Ithaca resident Michelle Porter says her NYSEG bills have been “insane” for the last several months. Porter said that within one week she received three separate bills. The first was for $700, then a day later another arrived for $1,200, and the next day another bill arrived for $1,500.

The Consumer Advocate of the Public Service Department will host a series of public forums in areas affected by billing errors starting in January as part of the investigation into NYSEG.

New York State Electric and Gas, commonly referred to as NYSEG, is a private corporation that generates, purchases and distributes electricity and gas to about 1.3 million customers across upstate New York. Their sister company, Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) is also under investigation.

The problems with the two utilities’ billing systems became apparent when the Department began to see a significant spike in the number of complaints from customers. As a result, Department staff commenced a review and an investigation related to a September 2022 change to the companies’ customer information and billing system.

The complaints received by the Department range from incorrect bills being sent to consumers or very late bills being sent. In 2022, the number of consumer complaints against the two companies soared to more than 4,700, 60 percent more than the two previous years combined.

In response to the investigation, Rory M. Christian, the CEO of the Department of Public Service said, “Ensuring customer bills are accurate is the singular responsibility of the utility, and this expanded investigation of RG&E and NYSEG will determine what went wrong and how will it be resolved.”

Christian continued saying, “Our bottom line is simple: we hold utilities accountable for any billing errors and we will require the companies to hold customers harmless.”

Issues with private utilities like NYSEG and RG&E have resulted in increased support for publicly owned utility options. Supporters of public utilities say that NYSEG holds customers hostage with rate hikes since there are no viable alternatives for where to get energy.

According to a report by Truthout, NYSEG customers are “captive to any rate hikes” because they “have but one option for buying the service that heats and lights [their] home.”

In 2022, NYSEG proposed a 22 percent increase for the average electric bill. This would take effect on May 1, 2023 and increase the average electricity bill by roughly $18.31.