Con Ed rate hike hearings are this week. Queens' borough president says NYC can't afford it.

With hearings set for this week, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards is joining a growing chorus of leaders urging Con Edison to walk back its proposed rate hikes.

Speaking at Queens Borough Hall Monday, Richards said the company’s proposed increases of more than 11% on average for electricity and more than 13% for gas would strain working families already struggling with the cost of living.

Flanked by union and community leaders from across the borough, Richards called on Con Edison to freeze the rates and for the Public Service Commission — which regulates public utilities in New York — to reject the proposal.

“New Yorkers are fed up, everybody's living on the margins,” he said. “You go to the supermarket for eggs, it's inflated, now they want to inflate your energy bill. Rents are inflated, mortgage inflated. How much more can New Yorkers endure right now?”

In an emailed statement, Con Edison attributed part of the increase on property taxes for energy infrastructure. Spokesperson Allan Drury the company also has to fortify and maintain its grid, and meet the state’s green energy goals.

"We welcome the opportunity to work with policy makers on directing that tax revenue back to low-income customers to provide bill relief or support clean energy programs," spokesperson Allan Drury said. He also said the company provided $300 million in discounts to low-income customers last year.

Public Service Commission spokesperson James Denn said the commission always considers affordability during the rate case process and its 11-month review of utility company rate proposals.

“Nothing during the process is taken for granted, including affordability concerns,” he said. “For the major electric and gas utilities, the approved rates after this process are nearly always lower than what is requested, due entirely to this time-tested stakeholder review process.”

Richards said New Yorkers already facing an affordability crisis shouldn’t be the ones to suffer as the state pursues renewable energy.

“The Public Service Commission absolutely should vote this down as it stands. You can't put your energy upgrades on the back of everyday New Yorkers. The state should go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to get creative,” Richards said. “At the end of the day, the city needs to figure out ways to make sure we're incentivizing more renewable energy projects and more renewable energy for everyday residents, and so then we just can't we can't keep pushing New Yorkers out of the city.”

Richards urged Queens residents to testify at the commission’s virtual public statement hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, sharing how the rate hikes would affect them.

Richard Khuzami, president of the Old Astoria Neighborhood Association, said the proposal comes during a period of unprecedented uncertainty and should be postponed.

“We're in a period of flux and I think it's important that somebody point out to Con Ed that it's impossible for them to make projections now when it's so hard to figure out what's going on,” he said. “We have tariffs now, which are a pseudo tax on all citizens."

He continued, "The federal government is at this point just basically not permitting and not financing so many energy projects, so I don't see how it's possible for Con Ed to come up with what their needs are going to be.”

Some state lawmakers denounced the Public Service Commission’s system for approving the hikes, saying it is stacked in favor of utility companies.

Other officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul — who appoints the commission’s members — oppose the rate hikes.

Last year, regulators also approved a three-year cycle of rate hikes for National Grid. Gas bills for the average customer in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island went up more than $30 in September, and then nearly $10 more at the start of this month. Customers in Long Island and the Rockaways experienced similar increases.

Con Edison’s proposed rate hike, which would take effect in January 2026, is still under review by the New York Public Service Commission.

This story has been updated to reflect a statement from a Con Edison spokesperson.