The Great New York City Blackout of 2019. Was there more to it that didn’t meet the eye?

Con Edison already sticks its cost of doing business to its customers. 

What else have they stuck to you?

This is about bills, and corporate greed, and the July 13th blackout that demonstrated just how dependent New Yorkers are on a company that, like nearly all corporate enterprises these days, puts profits first. And it may be about possible ulterior motives. But let’s start with the bills.

My June bill from New York City’s utility company, Con Edison, charged me $8.94 for the electricity I had used.  

No, that wasn’t the amount of  my monthly bill. That was just for the electricity I actually consumed. The bill itself came to $41.48 because it included charges I would have had to pay even if I hadn’t consumed a single watt of power.

Amont the items Con Edison tacked on to my bill, there was a “merchant function charge.” 

A  what? 

According to the bill that’s a “Charge associated with procuring electricity, credit and collection related activities and uncollectible accounts.” In other words, unlike your neighborhood cheese merchant, if Con Ed gets stiffed, they simply stick the loss caused by the deadbeat to their other customers.

It's all very weird —

and vaguely crooked

Suppose your next door neighbor stiffs the plumber. Can the plumber demand the unpaid $300 from you?

My bill also included a $12.33 charges for “maintaining the system through which Con Edison delivers electricity to you.” Right, and why shouldn’t the beer company charge me not only for the case of beer, but also for the broken axel it had to repair on the beer truck after hitting that pothole on Main Street, which is part of the system through which they bring me my beer? Not to mention the price of washing the truck.

There was also a “Basic service charge.” That, says the utility, was for “basic system infrastructure and customer-related services, including customer accounting and metering services."

Sure I’ll tell you what you owe me.

But there’s a charge for that.

So they charge me to read the meter so they can tell me how much money they want from me! I’m not sure what a “customer accounting” service is because they also charge me for depositing the check I send them every month.  Specifically, “A billing and payment charge of $1.20 which may be avoided by switching to an energy services company (ESCO), is also included.” 

How nice of them not to charge me for paying bills I’ve incurred with another company!

The list goes on with several other items. Not least infuriating is the charge for taxes that Con Ed gets charged on their gross receipts. So — if you can follow this — if they charge their customers more, they'll also charge us for charging  more, since their gross receipts will increase.

Now I know that similar charges are hidden in everything from the price of my corn flakes to what the doctor charges me for thumping my chest, before he goes off to pay his malpractice insurance. But at least just about every other business in the world has the decency to charge proportionately to what I consume. Keeping beer trucks up to snuff may be included in the cost of my beer, but if I drink less beer, I pay less for maintaining the trucks. If I visit the doctor only once, I pay less of his malpractice insurance. than if I visit him twice Not so with Con Ed.

Guess what, blackout victims:

You're screwed again.

During the blackout, the thousands and thousands of Con Ed customers who sweltered without air conditioning, stumbled around in the dangerous dark, and found the milk in their unrefrigerated refrigerators going bad, consumed less electricity. 

So yes, they’ll be charged for a piffling few less kilowatt hours. But remember, that’s often a very small part of their bills. They’ll still pay Con Ed’s charge for other people being deadbeats in full. As well as the billing and accounting charges. As well as all the other outrageous charges that most companies consider to be the cost of doing business.

The infrastructure charge is particularly galling, since it was the inadequate or badly maintained infrastructure that caused the blackout in the first place. Imagine if I didn’t deliver the case of beer you ordered because my truck broke down, and then billed you the price of a new truck.

Meanwhile, Con Edison is seeking a rate increase that would put an additional $1.6 billion a year into its own coffers. According to AARP, which is attempting to marshal opposition to the increase, “Next year alone, that would mean a 9% increase in the average customer electric delivery bill, and a 15% increase for gas delivery.”

Was the blackout an accident?

All this makes me wonder if that blackout on July 13th was nothing more than a little accidental-on-purpose demonstration of what’s going to happen to you if Con Edison doesn’t get the $1.6 billion it’s demanding.

The AARP recommends that New Yorkers protest Con Ed reaching deeper into your pockets by calling 1-844-354-6881 toll free. That’ll give you an opportunity to leave a message for the Public Service Commission.The AARP proposes you follow this script:

“Hello, my name is [name]. I’m calling to urge you to reject Con Edison electric and gas utility hikes, cases 19-E-0065 and 19-G-0066. Con Edison’s plan would send rates sky high, as well as increase my already excessive customer service charge. Please give ratepayers a break.”

Come to think of it, pick up the phone and do that right now. It’ll only take you a few minutes. It might save you hundreds of dollars over the long run, if the Public Service Commission actually listens. And better you get get a break than those greedy goons at Con Ed, right?