“We cannot choose darkness or heatstroke as a budgeting strategy”
From Traci Allen, Campbell NY
On I am a lifelong resident of New York. I work hard. I budget carefully. I do everything I am supposed to do. And yet every month, when my electric bill arrives, I feel a wave of anxiety that is becoming all too familiar for families across our state. The cost of electricity continues to rise, and for many of us, it is pushing our household budgets past the breaking point.
Yorkers are already grappling with some of the highest living costs in the country. Rent climbs. Groceries cost more each week. Transportation, childcare, healthcare; nothing is getting cheaper. Against that backdrop, repeated electric rate increases feel less like routine adjustments and more like a punishment for simply trying to live here.
Electricity is not a luxury. It keeps our homes warm during bitter winters and cool during dangerous heat waves. It powers refrigerators, medical equipment, lights for our children to study by, and the basic systems that make modern life possible. When rates go up, we cannot simply opt out.
We cannot choose darkness or heatstroke as a budgeting strategy.
Utilities such as Con Edison, National Grid and NYSEG argue that higher rates are necessary to fund infrastructure upgrades and meet clean energy goals. Investment in our grid and our climate future is important. But the path to that future cannot be paved on the backs of struggling residents. A just transition must also be an affordable one.
As an advocate, I have spoken with neighbors, seniors, working parents, and small business owners who are all telling the same story: they are exhausted. They are cutting back everywhere they can. They are skipping meals, delaying medical appointments, falling behind on other bills, all to keep the lights on.
These are not isolated anecdotes. They are warning signs.
The New York State Public Service Commission has a responsibility to balance corporate requests with public interest. That public interest must include affordability and fairness. At a minimum, there should be a freeze on further electric rate increases while a transparent review is conducted. A review that centers on consumer protections, executive compensation, and cost-saving alternatives before passing additional burdens onto ratepayers. New York has long prided itself on leadership, in justice, innovation, and opportunity. But leadership also means protecting residents from preventable hardship. If we want to remain a state where working people can build lives and families, we must ensure that basic utilities remain accessible and affordable. Keeping the lights on should not be a source of fear. It should be a given. It is time to freeze electric rate increases and put New Yorkers first.
Follow Traci Allen and New Yorkers Advocating For Affordable Electric Rates on Facebook
