The proposed hike in Con Edison electricity and gas rates has prompted a Bronx congress member to put pressure on Gov. Kathy Hochul to create an office that would advocate on behalf of consumers against rising utility bills.
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres penned a letter Thursday to Hochul calling for her to support a state bill that would establish an Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate as well as separate legislation that would compensate nonprofits for research when they go before the Public Service Commission to oppose rate hikes. Torres criticized the governor since she has vetoed both bills in the past.
In the letter, Torres argued that the current consumer utility protection agency, called the Utility Intervention Unit (UIU), lacks the teeth needed to be effective in advocating for consumers against energy rate hikes.
“It [UIU] has been rendered rudderless not by accident but by design—to the detriment of ratepayers everywhere in New York,” Torres said in Wednesday’s letter.
Torres said that the proposed office, dubbed the Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate, has been rejected by Hochul who has argued its duplicative. He said the bill w0uld essentially expand the powers of the UIU, making it more effective in serving consumers struggling to afford sky high energy bills.
The state legislature repeatedly passed the legislation sponsored by Bronx Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz to create the Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate. However, despite Dinowitz’s long-time fight for the cause, governors—including Hochul—have consistently vetoed the measure.
The increased pressure campaign comes as Con Edison has proposed double digit rate hikes. The utility giant, which supplies electricity and gas to the borough, wants to raise its delivery rates in January 2026 by 11.4% for electricity and 13.3% for gas.
Consumers, advocates and politicians, including Torres and Hochul, criticized the move as excessive and called on the Public Service Commission (PCS), which ultimately approves energy rates, to reject Con Edison’s request.
Torres said that an independent and official advocate would give New Yorkers, including Bronxites, more power to fight the hikes during the official proceedings that the regulatory body, the PCS, holds to review requested rate increases.
Torres and Dinowitz are telling the governor that it’s time to back the effort to create an Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate with the power to issue subpoenas, conduct investigations and file lawsuits on behalf of consumers.
The Governor’s Office told the Bronx Times that she supports the “intent” of the legislation but called creating a new office “superfluous” and “duplicative” of existing programs.
Torres said in the letter that energy prices in the city, and the Bronx specifically, had gotten out of hand saying the need for an independent Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate “has taken on fierce urgency.”
“The cost of utilities in New York has entered the realm of the absurd,” Torres said in the letter. “The delivery of gas has somehow become more expensive than the gas itself.”
He also demanded that Hochul support another bill which would create a utility intervenor reimbursement program to pay nonprofit consumer advocate groups that represent the interest of New Yorkers during proceedings that determine energy rates. Torres pointed out that utility companies like Con Edison have an “army of consultants, expert witnesses, lawyers,
and lobbyists.”
For example, in the official process reviewing Con Edison’s rates in 2019-2020, the company spent $6.5 million advocating for rate increases, according to the letter. The Public Service Commission approved the company’s request to raise rates at the time.
Torres told the Governor in his letter that leveling the playing field by supporting the two bills was “long overdue.”
