High energy prices and hot weather put a chill in New Yorkers’ Con Ed bills last summer.
City apartment dwellers who bought 300 kilowatts of electricity from Con Ed in August got a bill for $109.99, the company says.
That was up 58.6 percent from the $69.34 the same amount of electricity would have cost in August 2007.
Officials had been predicting that higher fuel costs would result in a 30 percent increase for the air-conditioning season.
Officials also blamed warmer days for the higher prices. The summer of 2007 was relatively cool, and that depressed wholesale power prices a bit as consumers used less air conditioning.
Con Ed’s charges in Westchester County also increased, but not as dramatically. A typical Westchester homeowner who used 450 kilowatts of electricity in August paid $136.87, an increase of 51.5 percent from August 2007.
Taxes, fees and differences in the size of consumers’ homes account for the spread between what Con Ed customers pay in Westchester and New York City.
Con Ed already charges the highest prices of any major US electric utility.
One problem is that Con Ed’s long-term contracts with generating companies aren’t as cost-effective as those enjoyed by upstate utilities.
Upstate power companies also have access to lower-cost electricity from the New York Power Authority.
That leaves Con Ed customers more vulnerable to the open-market wholesale price of electricity, where some of the highest prices are established days or even minutes ahead.
With the price of oil and other forms of energy plunging in recent weeks, the cost of electricity is also expected to drop.
Con Ed bills covering September should be down about 25 percent from August, said company spokesman Chris Olert.
Lower fuel prices and lower electricity demand should make winter bills in New York City even lower.
Con Ed has also counted high property taxes as a factor in its latest electric rate hike.
The utility company owns 11 acres of undeveloped prime East River real estate in Queens. Con Ed uses a vacant lot as a training facility.